LaVar Ball rapidly brought the phrase “Big Baller” and the brand itself into the national landscape. After being an unknown personality just a handful of years ago, the Ball family has its own Facebook TV show and the brand has recognizable worldwide, for better or for worse.
Ball has often joked about who is and isn’t Big Ballers after his brand has blown up. On a podcast appearance on Friday with Pardon My Take, Ball gave insight into what makes someone a Big Baller and, for once, he wasn’t joking.
“It ain’t about the money and all that. The Big Baller is a state of mind. If you feel good about yourself and you’re positive, you’re a Big Baller. For instance, if you want something and it’s hard to get it and you end up getting it? You’re a Big Baller. Now if you want something and you don’t want to work for it, you ain’t no a Big Baller. That’s why I say to a lot of Big Ballers out here ‘You’re a Big Baller in what you do.’ If you feel good about it, that’s on you. That’s what makes you a Big Baller.”
For all of Ball’s faults, and there are more than can be counted, he is a genius marketer. Big Baller Brand has become a globally relevant brand despite being within the first decade of its existence. Now, many of the reasons the brand and Ball are popular are for negative reasons – Ball’s brashness or the brand’s failures – but it has led to the Ball family being one of the most well-known families in the sports world.