LaVar Ball says he’ll play Michael Jordan 1-on-1 on pay-per-view for $200 million
[USA TODAY]
Many have been waiting on LaVar Ball’s response to the possibility that a 1-on-1 match-up with Michael Jordan is as real as ever. With LaMelo Ball being drafted to the Jordan-owned Hornets, there is now a direct link between the Big Baller and arguably basketball’s greatest player of all-time.
On Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast on Wednesday, Ball was asked about the 1-on-1 game he once said he would win. While Ball said he’d do it, he also put a steep, steep price on the showdown.
“Well if you’re waiting for it, hurry up and get in touch with pay per view because me and Mike ain’t playing for less than $200 million. That’s what we say. If you’re going to watch Mike Tyson at 50, you’re going to watch me and MJ play just 1-on-1 for pay per view only. And it better be over $200 million…If the people in the world want to see that 1-on-1, they going to have to pay a price. From the greatest of all-time to the coldest of all-time. Triple B’s baby!”
Lamar Ball
This isn’t the first time Ball has pulled out astronomical figures as prices. In the early stages of Big Baller Brand, Ball placed a $1 billion price tag for shoe deals to land his three sons.
In his introductory presser, LaMelo Ball was posed a similar question about his father squaring off with Jordan. Ball was rather diplomatic with his answer, stating he couldn’t pick a side but also said “we’d know how it’d turn out.”
“I don’t think it’s going to happen,” Ball said with a grin. “And we know how it’d turn out to be honest. But I mean that is my pops and my boss, so I’m on both sides now.”
Lamelo Ball
Money always talks but it’s hard to see anyone paying $200 million for this spectacle, and that’s working under the assumption that Jordan would sign off on it. But he could also be enticed by the opportunity to embarrass LaVar while making a couple hundred million at the same time. Who wouldn’t tune in to Jordan destroying Ball’s livelihood on the court?
By Jacob Rude