Count Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green among those who don’t think LaVar Ball’s marketing plan for his son Lonzo’s shoes will work.
Last week, the Ball family caused a stir when they released Lonzo’s first shoe, the ZO2, for a hefty price of $495.
Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour all turned down LaVar, who wanted to license his brand, Big Baller, to the shoe companies rather than sign a regular endorsement.
Green, speaking to The Mercury News’ Marcus Thompson on Uninterrupted’s “Dray Day” podcast, said he liked LaVar’s idea but thought the family was “setting themselves up for failure.”
“I like the concept,” he said. “However, I think they’re going about the whole thing wrong
“But $500 for a basketball shoe? Who are we kidding? There will never be, like — LeBron dropped his prices from $220 or whatever it was to like $160. This is LeBron James we’re talking about. Michael Jordan’s shoes went up to $200-something. They dropped back down.”
He mentioned that the price of shoes by Kobe Bryant, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, and Steph Curry had also all dropped.
“This kid has never scored a layup in the NBA,” Green said of Lonzo, who is a freshman at UCLA. “He thinks he’s gonna sell his shoes for $500? That’s just absurd.”
Green said that if the shoe’s production costs were high, the Ball family needed to find a new way to make money on the shoe because the price was still too much.
“Are they charging that much because they can’t mass-produce the shoe so they need to charge that much to cover the costs? Maybe,” he said. “But even if that’s the case, then you gotta find a different route. You can’t just charge $500 for a shoe.”
When Thompson said the Ball family might be accepting preorders for the shoe and then manufacturing it, Green said: “Well, the only thing about that is even if you don’t, the manufacturer is gonna charge you even more to make the shoe. They’re gonna take a percent probably — a huge percent probably — so you end up losing money anyway.”
Green and Thompson said LaVar’s controversial comments could also negatively affect the perception of the shoe.
“Even those that can afford that shoe don’t want to associate themselves with him,” Green said. “So the audience you’re going after you have already made dislike you.”
According to a report from Matt Halfhill of Nice Kicks, fewer than 300 pairs of the ZO2 sold on the first day. As Kelly Dwyer of Yahoo’s Ball Don’t Lie notes, that would mean the Ball family made over $150,000.
Green called the independent brand a “great idea,” but he said, “I think that’s just crazy, and I think they’re setting themselves up for failure.”
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