NEW YORK — Here was Lonzo Ball, the heralded rookie point guard of the Los Angeles Lakers, setting foot inside the basketball cathedral that is Madison Square Garden for the first time. And there, in four courtside seats fittingly situated a few chairs down from The Garden’s celebrity row, was Ball’s mother, father and two younger brothers — all decked out in their now ubiquitous Big Baller Brand gear.
The trip to the Big Apple was a crowning moment for the family’s fledgling basketball empire. They opened the brand’s pop-up store in Manhattan. Younger brothers LiAngelo and LaMelo signed professional contracts to play in Lithuania.