Last night's episode of HBO's The Shop was a star-studded affair. Travis Scott, Seth Rogen, Don Cheadle, Pharrell Williams, Jimmy Iovine weren't present for the exchange that saw Lonzo Ball bear his guts to the panel. Up for discussion: the Big Baller Brand tattoo he got forcibly removed to coincide with Alan Foster's dismissal.
Lonzo Ball would be within his rights to stay on the offensive, but he hasn't, seemingly out of respect to his naive and well-intentioned father LaVar. Alan Foster did after all still a good chunk of his money, after waiting in the shadows as one of LaVar's "Yes Men."
According to Lonzo, Foster only stepped into a CFO position once his mother Tina fell ill. Shady figures like Foster wound up taking a good chunk of the credit away from Tina in her absence, in light of her legwork contributing to the proto-phase before BBB's rise to fame. Lonzo described the messy dynamic as such.
"That's why I covered the BBB up on my arm. Because like, when I saw that, I saw him and that sh*t made me so, like I was tight," Ball told the other panel members. "Like when we looked at the transactions, the sh*t didn't start happening until my mom got sick. Because she took care of all the money sh*t. So that's what really hurt me. That sh*t hurt me. I don't even know what I'd do if I seen him right now. I ain't seen him."
Lonzo Ball continued this narrative of "broken trust" in a second part. According to the Lakers' pivot, it was only after his daughter was born in the Summer of 2018 that everything started to click, and not in a good way. "I think when my daughter was born, that's what really kinda clicked," said Ball. "Like yo, you gotta start taking control. Because now I'm not just doing sh*t for me. Not for my mom and my dad, who I love. But I gotta look out for a little one that's mine. That I brought into the world."
So in a sense, Lonzo Ball is trying to restore the sanctity of the Ball name before they delve any further, whether on business or personal terms. The silver lining for the Ball family is only a brand. So, if the whole ship capsizes, their family blood could repair itself in the long term... I say in earnest.