Sneaker News 
After a slow start, Lonzo Ball is exceeding the hype on the court. Of course, Summer League performances aren’t the strongest of indicators of future success and they’re generally overlooked, unless you’re the most talked about NBA rookie of the draft class. Another sub-plot is that Lonzo has, for the second game in a row, declined to wear his Big Baller Brand signature shoe, and instead went with the recently released adidas Harden Vol. 1 LS, messed around, and got a triple double.
So after igniting LeBron James to post about him on Instagram, Lonzo now had James Harden follow suit as the MVP runner-up posted a video of Lonzo on Instagram with adidas’ most recent slogan “Create for the Culture”. So now Lonzo Ball has become a stage for some of the highest-paid endorsees on the biggest shoe brands in history to take jabs at one another. It goes without saying that the bad publicity brought on by father Lavar is actually proving to be quite useful for his son – as long as he continues this level of play.
adidas was pegged to be a favorite to sign Lonzo given the brand’s ties to UCLA, but the German sportswear brand, along with Nike and Under Armour, declined to partner with Lonzo due to his father’s lofty demands. There is, however, still room for Lonzo to negotiate a shoe deal, although his father has confirmed that there are no discussions going on at the moment.
