The Los Angeles Lakers haven’t given Lonzo Ball and his family the keys to their kingdom.
The team is charging its rookie point guard full price for the 20 tickets his extended family uses to attend every home game at Staples Center this season, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported Thursday, citing a source. Ball, a Los Angeles native, reportedly paid around $150,000 for the group of premium-level seats.
The Lakers also charge the production company that produces “Ball in the Family,” the Ball family’s hit reality show which can be seen exclusively on Facebook Watch, to film at their games. Other NBA teams allow the Ball show to film in their arenas for free, but Lakers’ minority owners and Staples Center operators, AEG, aren’t so lenient with the show, which generates “millions” of dollars for the Ball family, multiple sources told Shelburne.
The Lakers feted Lonzo Ball as a potential franchise player when they picked him No. 2 overall in the 2017 NBA Draft and didn’t attempt to control LaVar Ball’s promotional activities at the outset of his career.
But Shelburne’s reporting suggests the team no longer views Ball as a “savior” and is starting to treat him as a star in a galaxy, instead of its lone shining son.
