LaVar Ball doesn’t just sell basketball players a potential future in the sport, there also is a business perk.
Ball recently told Los Angeles radio show “Big Boy in the Morning” players in the JBA, the startup basketball league he founded and his apparel company, Big Baller Brand, sponsors and pays most players $3,000 per month. One of those 64 players, the Seattle Ballers’ Jerry Vargas, also revealed last Wednesday in an interview with The New York Post’s Jake Nisse that Ball promises each player a BBB job if they fail to to launch careers as basketball players.
The JBA fashions itself as an alternative development system to college basketball. Eight teams currently compete in the circuit, with players ranging from ages 16 to 21.
While ticket sales to league games are low, most JBA games attract at least 100,000 viewers on Facebook Watch. Furthermore, games involving LaMelo and LiAngelo Ball routinely garner 800,000-plus views, according to Nisse.
We don’t yet know how financially viable the JBA is, but players will benefit from the short- and medium-term security Ball offers.
