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For the third night in a row, Los Angeles Lakers rookie point guard Lonzo Ball took the floor in other than his own signature shoe Saturday night. As Ball helped lead the Lakers to victory over the Brooklyn Nets, he was wearing a pair of Stephen Curry’s signature Under Armor shoes.
The latest change came after Ball had already worn Nike and Adidas shoes in the prior two games as part of his family’s latest effort to get a deal from a major shoe brand. Ball’s sneaker showcase has generated headline after headline as ESPN literally keeps track of how many points he scores per shoe brand, but the origin story of his latest sneakers is actually pretty cool.
According to sneaker review website WearTesters.com, Ball expressed interest in a pair of the yet-to-release shoe, and Curry was kind enough to send the Big Baller an early pair to showcase against Brooklyn:
He asked Stephen for a pair and he was cool enough to send over his personal pair. Possibly wears the same sz. https://t.co/t92357Z03N
— Nightwing2303 (@Nightwing2303) July 16, 2017
This is the latest sign the recruitment of Ball to wear another shoe brand has officially begun. While it looked like he would wear his won Big Baller Brand ZO2s at the NBA level, it appears that the Ball family’s latest ploy for headlines has worked.
Given the breathless, fashion-police style coverage of Ball’s shoe choices, it’s no surprise brands might now be willing to offer him a bit more coin in order to sign or co-brand with them than they were when Ball was simply a draft prospect.
Ball has been a trendsetter in nearly every stage of his basketball career so far, and eschewing his own signature shoe for another company’s would just be the latest step in that fascinating journey.
Harrison Faigen is co-host of the Locked on Lakers podcast (subscribe here), and you can follow him on Twitter at @hmfaigen.