Air Jordan is a line of basketball shoes produced by Nike, Inc. Related apparel and accessories are marketed under the Jordan Brand.
Jermaine Lamarr Cole is an American rapper and record producer. Born on a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained attention as a rapper following the release of his debut mixtape, The Come Up, in early 2007. Intent on further pursuing a musical career, he signed with Jay-Z's Roc Nation in 2009 and released two additional mixtapes: The Warm Up (2009) and Friday Night Lights (2010) to further critical acclaim as he garnered a wider following.
BC Prienai was a Lithuanian professional basketball club based in Prienai. They played domestically in the Lithuanian Basketball League every year since winning the promotion in 2009. During the 2008–09 season, then called Rūdupis, they became the champion of the NKL and won the challenge match for a slot in the LKL. In their debut LKL season Rūdupis took seventh place, while next two seasons brought BC Prienai two bronze LKL medals. BC Prienai played in EuroCup 2011–12 with moderate success; the team won 3 games out of 6, but nonetheless failed to qualify for the next stage. More recently, the team has become a strong competitor in domestic tournaments, more than once upsetting teams such as Žalgiris Kaunas and Lietuvos rytas Vilnius. In December 2017, in a highly publicized move, Vytautas signed American basketball players and brothers LaMelo and LiAngelo Ball.
De'Aaron Martez Fox is an American professional basketball player for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats before being selected fifth overall by the Kings in the 2017 NBA draft. Nicknamed "Swipa", Fox had a breakout season in 2023, as he was selected to his first All-Star Game and All-NBA Team, along with being named the inaugural winner of the Clutch Player of the Year Award en route to leading the Kings to their first postseason berth since 2006.
Lonzo Anderson Ball is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A point guard, he played college basketball for one season with the UCLA Bruins, earning consensus first-team All-American honors before the Los Angeles Lakers selected him with the second overall pick of the 2017 NBA draft. He was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team in 2018.
LaMelo LaFrance Ball is an American professional basketball player for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected by the Hornets with the third overall pick of the 2020 NBA draft. Ball was voted the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2021 and named an NBA All-Star the following season in 2022.
LiAngelo Robert Ball is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Astros de Jalisco. Ball played for Chino Hills High School in California, where he won a state championship and achieved national success as a junior with his brothers Lonzo and LaMelo, who are both current NBA guards. A three-star recruit and UCLA signee, he decided to forgo college basketball after being suspended for shoplifting in China before the 2017–18 season. In turn, Ball signed with Lithuanian professional team Prienai. He later played in the Junior Basketball Association (JBA), a league founded by his father, before joining the G League at the end of 2019–20. He was briefly signed to the Detroit Pistons in late 2020, but was waived prior to the start of the 2020–21 season. Ball joined the Greensboro Swarm in 2021.
LaVar Christopher Ball is an American businessman. He is the co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of the sports apparel company Big Baller Brand and founder of the now defunct Junior Basketball Association (JBA). He is the father of three professional basketball players: Chicago Bulls point guard Lonzo, Greensboro Swarm shooting guard LiAngelo and Charlotte Hornets point guard LaMelo.
Big Baller Brand (BBB) is an American company that designs, manufactures, and sells clothing and shoes. Launched in 2016 by Alan Foster and LaVar Ball, it has most notably produced signature shoes for the Ball brothers—basketball players Lonzo Ball, LaMelo Ball, and LiAngelo Ball. Big Baller Brand has additionally been involved in the creation of the Junior Basketball Association (JBA), which it fully funded, and both the Big Baller Brand Challenge Games and Big Baller Brand International Tournament, which were a series of Lithuanian exhibition games hosted by BC Vytautas.
Ball in the Family is an American reality television series that premiered on August 29, 2017 on Facebook Watch. The show documents the personal and professional lives of the Ball family. The sixth season premiered on October 18, 2020.
"Melo Ball 1" is a rap single by American professional basketball player Lonzo Ball, featuring singer Kenneth Paige. Released on September 8, 2017, it is Ball's first official song and is about his younger brother LaMelo Ball and his signature Big Baller Brand shoe, the Melo Ball 1 (MB1). A segment of the song first appeared in a video published by SLAM magazine that debuted the MB1 shoes. The song was produced by 80's Baby Entertainment, Inc. under his family-owned record label Big Baller Music Group.
The Junior Basketball Association (JBA) was an American basketball league that intended to be an alternative to the NCAA by allowing high school and junior college players to immediately play professionally. The league was first announced in December 2017 by LaVar Ball and was said to be fully funded by Ball's sports apparel company, Big Baller Brand. The JBA existed for just one season in 2018, featuring eight teams from major US cities.
Harrison Burwell Gaines is an American former basketball player who is most notably a California Attorney and the founder and chief executive officer of sports agency SLASH Sports & Entertainment. A native of Victorville, California, Gaines was a standout point guard at Serrano High School. He played college basketball with Penn before transferring to UC Riverside for his final two seasons. He later attended Thomas Jefferson School of Law.
Big Baller Brand Challenge Games were a series of friendly basketball games between Vytautas Prienai–Birštonas of the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) and five teams in the LKL, National Basketball League (NKL), and Regional Basketball League (RKL). It began on January 9 and ended on January 28, 2018. The games were designed by Vytautas to give more exposure to its new signees, brothers LaMelo and LiAngelo Ball, and resulted in the team's withdrawal from the 2017–18 Baltic Basketball League season. The games were sponsored by Big Baller Brand, an athletic apparel company founded by the brothers' father LaVar Ball, and were streamed on Facebook Live via Ballislife Weekly Showcase.
The Big Baller Brand International Tournament was a round-robin basketball tournament hosted by Vytautas Prienai–Birštonas of the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) that featured three teams from different European countries. It began on February 25 and ended on February 27, 2018, with a total of six games and three games per team. The competition took place at Prienai Arena in Prienai, Lithuania, with the games featuring Vytautas being streamed through Facebook.
The 2017–18 BC Prienai season is the 23rd season in the existence of the club, which was known as Vytautas Prienai–Birštonas for sponsorship reasons. The team played in the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) but also briefly participated in the Baltic Basketball League (BBL) and in the qualifying round of Basketball Champions League (BCL). The season was highlighted with both on-court and financial struggles, dating as far back as 2016, and several roster changes.
The Seattle Ballers were a basketball team based in Seattle, Washington. The team competed in the Junior Basketball Association (JBA), a league created for high school and junior college players as an alternative to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
The Los Angeles Ballers were a professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. The team competed in the Junior Basketball Association (JBA), a league created for high school and junior college players as an alternative to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). They won the championship for the league's only 2018 season.
"Feels Like Summer", also known as "42.26", is a song by American recording artist Childish Gambino. The song was released by Wolf+Rothstein, Liberator Music and RCA Records on July 11, 2018. It was written and produced by Gambino and his longtime collaborator Ludwig Göransson. The song was made available for digital download and streaming along with "Summertime Magic" as a part of the extended play Summer Pack. It is featured on the FIFA 19 soundtrack. It later appeared on his fourth album, 3.15.20, under the title "42.26". The song received a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Song at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards.
Daijon Cotty Davis, known professionally as DC The Don, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is recognized for mixing elements of hip-hop, rock, and melodic rap in his music. Prior to his rap career, Davis played basketball alongside NBA star LaMelo Ball, both being part of the sports program at Chino Hills High School in Chino Hills, California. Davis' musical journey and basketball past remain intertwined, both contributing to his position in the entertainment industry.
