As reports of Lonzo Ball parting ways with Creative Artists Agency surfaced earlier in the week, it appears LaMelo Ball and his manager Jermaine Jackson have already begun taking steps to find a new agency.
A little bit of digging is necessary, but it appears Ball and Jackson met with either Jay-Z himself or Roc Nation.
Roughly two weeks ago, Jackson started an Instagram Live broadcast from an airport showing off a private jet. The broadcast did not come from his main Instagram, which is under the username purplegoat1, but instead a second account. This secondary account, which is under the username make_someone_smile_everyday, doesn’t directly identify itself as Jackson’s account but has a picture of him as the profile picture and consistently posts about Jackson’s son, Jermaine Jackson Jr. The account has also posted pictures and videos of LaMelo Ball as well.
During the Instagram Live broadcast, both the registration of the plane and a partial glimpse of a logo are seen. While the logo is hard to specifically identify as the whole thing is not shown, the registration number takes all the guessing work out of it (h/t LonzoPage/Instagram).
Fans of Jay-Z will likely quickly pick up on the registration number. 444 references 4:44, Jay-Z’s 13th studio album. The SC stands for his real name, Shawn Carter. All of the information is available online to officially link the jet to Jay-Z.
The move could mean multiple things for Ball’s future. Roc Nation’s client list in basketball is a growing one considering the sports management division only began in 2013. Their current client list is highlighted by Kyrie Irving while the likes of Caris LeVert, Danny Green, Markelle Fultz, Marcus and Markieff Morris and Skylar Diggins-Smith all are among the other Roc Nation clients.
Jay-Z also has links with Puma, officially listed as a creative director with the shoe brand. In recent seasons, Puma has re-entered the basketball market with DeAndre Ayton, Marvin Bagley and RJ Barrett being some of the recent high-profile players to join the company.
Ball’s relationship, or lack thereof, with Big Baller Brand has been publicized. Despite advances by the company toward Ball during its recent redesign, Ball has relented, instead choosing to keep his options open. Puma could certainly be one of those options.
Ball is likely looking to lock down an agency prior to the pre-draft process which will begin in the coming weeks and months as the NBA and NCAA seasons come to a close. For now, all of this is an interesting footnote to keep in mind as the family looks to move to another agency.
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