Ball in the Family' Review: Lonzo Visits Recording Studio; LaMelo Creates Shoe

The Lonzo Ball hype train went into overdrive when the Los Angeles Lakers rookie point guard won MVP at the Las Vegas Summer League, and Ball witnessed the downside of superstardom firsthand in the sixth edition of Ball in the Family, which streamed on Facebook.The episode gave a glimpse into Ball's preparation ahead of his first season in the NBA. Not only did he have to juggle his commitments with the Lakers and Big Baller Brand, he was also moving into his new apartment with the help of girlfriendDenise Garcia.Lonzo and the Ball family also had to appear at a pop-up shop in Anaheim, California, for Big Baller Brand. The event was originally supposed to last two-and-a-half hours but ran for nearly seven instead as Lonzo, LaMelo and LaVar Ball signed autographs for fans."It definitely takes a lot of work, a lot of dedication to have your own brand that you own," Lonzo said. "I'm cool with it. But I'd rather [family associate Alan] just come up to me and tell me the truth and not sugarcoat it. If it's gonna be seven hours, just tell me it's gonna be seven hours."Lonzo went from the Big Baller Brand event to a recording studio to work on his burgeoning music career. The episode ended with Lonzo and Denise discussing a lyric in which the former UCLA Bruins star mentioned a woman he described as a "longtime friend I had for a while."Lonzo's first single"Melo Ball 1"was released Sept. 1.Part of Sunday's episode focused on the creation of LaMelo's signature Big Baller Brand sneaker, the unveiling of which was set to coincide with his 16th birthday.Ball in the Familyshowed LaMelo's struggle to discover a design that would be unique to him and represent his on-court style. At one point, he told the designers he wanted a shoe mimicking Kevin Durant's Nike KD 9 sneaker."You need to just call KD, and you need to sign with Nike," LaVar said in response.LaVar eventually left and entered the production's control room, at which point LaMelo sketched a rough idea of how he wanted the Melo Ball 1 to look.Big Baller Brand shared a photo of the finished product in August:In one of the episode's warmer moments, LaVar went jewelry shopping with his wife, Tina, something he said he hadn't done in 20 years. Tina Ball suffered a stroke in February, and Sunday'sBall in the Family opened with her continuing speech therapy."She's the one. Just so smooth. She's not like other girls. She's tough, smart, pretty," LaVar said of Tina in an interview with ESPN The Magazine's Ramona Shelburne. "I told my wife, 'I been with you so long, you can have one eye drooped and your mouth over here like this and you're still beautiful to me. I look at you the same way. That ain't gonna never change.'"
Click here to read full news..