By ANDREW RUANO
Staff Writer
His endorsement deal was signed by LaMelo Ball, and it is not with the relaunched family company. Puma, the brand reported on Wednesday, was formally signed by the youngest member of the Ball family. Ball, who spent the previous basketball season playing in Australia, is considered among the top talents in a wide-open NBA draft for 2020. Krysten Peek of Yahoo Sports has Ball going second overall to the Golden State Warriors in her latest mock draft. Ball signing with Puma is obviously notable because it means he will not be promoting Big Baller Brand, the company created by his father with the aim of leveraging his sons’ fame into a lasting business. The last time we left LaVar Ball, Big Baller Brand was rising from the ashes in February after a stretch of time in which the company’s website wasn’t even operational, not to mention an “F” from the Better Business Bureau and an alleged seven-figure embezzlement by Ball’s business partner. Nine months later, the family’s two most important faces seem to be moving on from the company. LaMelo is the first to officially sign elsewhere, while Lonzo Ball, who incidentally owns the majority of the company is set to follow him, according to ESPN’s Nick DePaula. Lonzo had already spent the entire season wearing Nike shoes rather than his family’s infamously shoddy product. As DePaula puts it, Big Baller Brand’s run as a footwear brand is over. At least they still have their $60 T-shirts.