It may soon be time to say bye, bye to Big Baller Brand.
Two years after its founder, LaVar Ball, declared the business a "billion-dollar brand," dropped $495 shoes and created the first-ever signature sneaker for a high school basketball player, the infamous company has resorted to cash-only clearance sales at local volleyball tournaments.
That's according to LA Sports Radio, which first shared photos of one of the sales via Twitter this week. The images, which depict a makeshift merchandise table inside a local gym, have since been re-posted by Action Network's Darren Rovell, who wrote Tuesday, "RIP Big Baller Brand. Website has been 'under construction' for months."
Big Baller Brand went from selling $50 t shirts to selling them for $5 at local volleyball tournaments 😂 pic.twitter.com/PBdyH1BSFW
— LA Sports Radio (@LASportsRadio) July 14, 2019
The Big Baller Brand website is, in fact, still under construction as of Wednesday. And if the clearance sale seen on Twitter is any indication, the company is now selling BBB hats and T-shirts for as low as $5, hoodies for $15, shorts for $20, "Ball jerseys" for $50, as well as $100 bundles featuring shoes, hoodies, T-shirts and socks. While it's not necessarily indicative of an impending company shutdown, it's a far cry from typical Big Baller fare. The company's ZO2.19 shoes, announced in October 2018, started at $200.
BBB has not been the smoothest operation since its inception, of course. An apparel venture initially and famously backed by Ball's sons, Lonzo, LaMelo and LiAngelo, it spawned Lithuanian partnerships after LaMelo and LiAngelo joined the Lithuanian Basketball League, founded the Junior Basketball Association for high school graduates and garnered significant social media attention. But it also received an "F" rating from the Better Business Bureau in 2018, sparked criticism from fans awaiting old orders and, just this year, saw Lonzo sever ties with co-founder Alan Foster over alleged misuse of money and a criminal past.