Transcription
All right, so peace. You know, uh, this brother Lavar Ball, this man is something else in more ways than one. But, uh, he's, he's, uh, he's captaining his son's burgeoning professional career, both on and off the court. Now, they're releasing a, a very high price, quote unquote, high price shoe, and, um, it's caused a lot of, caused a lot of controversy, quote unquote, in the entertainment world, in the sports world, I should say, because of the price. So, let's see how this show covers the release of these shoes.
Next up, Lavar Ball is at it again. Lavar Alonzo's Big Baller Brand revealed their new shoe yesterday. The Zo 2 shoe costs $495. This comes a week after Nike, Under Armour, and Adidas reportedly said no to licensing Big Baller Brand. Shaquille O'Neal tweeted, "Hey, Lavar Ball, real big baller brands don't overcharge kids for shoes." Well, how would Shaq know, uh, what a big baller brand would charge kids for shoes? He was one of the main ones who was pimped out by Nike when he first came into the league. You know, a lot of these guys, they come and they get, and, and, um, they just get their foot in the door with these name brands, with these name brand big-time corporations, and then later on, you know, 25 years, 20 years down the line, then they release their own, uh, low-budget, low-budget shoes and low-budget sneakers to try to act like they care about the, the, uh, disenfranchised, lower-income portion of society. As Shaq throws up his, uh, Masonic sign, tweeted, "Big Ballers lose. If you can't afford the Zo 2s, you're not a big baller."
Warriors assistant coach Mike Brown was asked about the shoes last night. Let's take a look. "Would you buy your kids a five, a pair of shoes for $500 from an NBA player?" "No." The reporter asked him if he would buy a $500 pair of sneakers from an unproven NBA player. Well, that just shows you the mindset of this society. If the price tag is what's offensive to you, why would it matter to you whether the player is proven or unproven? Would you buy a $500 pair of sneakers from Michael Jordan? Just because, uh, his name is on a, a pair of, of, um, sneakers that it probably cost the same amount to make as Lonzo Ball's sneaker. You understand the psychological aspect of commerce.
"Shannon, it was a mistake by Lavar to charge this much." "Yeah, I think it is. Now, I don't have a problem with him, you know, coming out with his own brand and trying to market and trying to make money. You live in a capitalistic society, and you come up with innovations, and people sell things all the time. But, Skip, the word I'm going to use in retailing, they always say it's price point. This price point is way, way off. And I'm going to use a term in retail known as psychological pricing. Psychological pricing, for those of you who don't know, is a strategy where you will put a certain amount on an item to make people think that it is of greater value than it actually is. Basically, if you're dumb enough to associate a price with value, then you're part of the big baller, uh, consumer bracket." That's his point. He said that's why he said, "If you're not going to pay $495 for this sneaker, then you're not a big baller." Okay, that, that is what's called, what that is what's known as psychological pricing.
This man, Lavar Ball, I don't know if he went to school for, um, for economics or if he went to school for, uh, for business, but he's a, he's a brilliant promoter, a brilliant promoter. All right, there's a certain, there's a certain business acumen and understanding that it takes to, uh, to fix a high price on an item. Uh, you have to have an understanding of human psychology. Okay, it's the same reason why people go to a fancy restaurant and they eat a, a plate of food that has a little bit of food on it, and they pay $800 for the food. What are they paying for? Are they paying for the food? No, they're paying for the ambiance. They're paying for the location, right? You can go around the corner to the Caribbean restaurant and get a, you know, and get a medium or a large plate of curry goat with, with, you know, with rice and plantain and cabbage, and it'd be the best meal you ate in your life for $12. But you decided that you wanted to go to the high-profile restaurant in Midtown and pay $700 for it. Why'd you do that? You did it for the ambiance. You did it because you could. You did it because you're a so-called big baller. That's what it's about. People are acting like they've never seen a pair of shoes cost $500. Go on Ralph Lauren's website, go on the Manolo Blahnik website. All right, their shoe prices on those websites, that'll put this shoe to, to shame. All right. Would I ever buy sneakers like that? No, I'm not a sneakerhead. You know, last pair of Jordans I bought was back when I was about 19. Okay, I'm not, I'm not a sneakerhead like that. But there are people out there who will pay this amount of money for that shoe, and that's who he's marketing the shoe to. Like, I don't know, I don't know how much a pair of, of Kanye West shoes, the Yeezys, go for, but they're overpriced too. It's called psychological pricing. All right, that's what you do when you want to make somebody think that what you're offering is worth a lot, even when it's not. It's, it's, it's part of the magic of retail.
"You can't charge as an upstart more than what established shoe companies are charging." "No, actually, you can charge whatever the market shows you people will purchase your item for." "Shannon, you know, the Jordan, LeBron, Kyrie, the Steph Curry, the KDs, that's two, three times what established NBA players with a, with the backing of established NBA brands." "I don't understand what he was trying to go for." "Well, actually, they're not a part of established NBA brands. They actually, uh, they actually joined up with those corporate brands and, uh, they're part of those brands. All right, that's basically what it is. Nike wasn't an NBA brand until Jordan made him one. Jordan joined Nike, okay?"
But, you know, it's a lot of different dynamics that are going on here with, uh, Lavar Ball and the sneaker, um, and, and to say, "Well, if you can't afford these shoes, you're not a baller." Can you imagine if Mercedes says, "Well, hey, if you can't afford this car, you ain't a baller"? They say it all the time. Why do you think that they call their, their vehicles luxury vehicles? It's for people that live in luxury, right? People who are working a 9 to 5, they're not living in luxury. So don't buy, don't try to buy a luxury vehicle. Well, I think everybody's going to say, "Well, I'm a baller blocker because I'm not going to, I'm not going to pay $500 for these orthopedic." You know, there's a certain, there's a certain psychological aspect to people who worry about what a salesman prices his item at. It, it shows a lot of insecurity. Me personally, when I sold a $500 price, I just, I just smiled because I understood what Lavar Ball was doing. And knowing that I would never buy those, know, I would never buy a pair of sneakers for that price because that's just not what I'm into. But for the people who are into it, let them do it. See, what a hater does is, not only does a hater not want to, not only does a hater not want to purchase something or do something to assist in someone else's endeavor, but they want to stop other people from wanting to do it. Like a hater will look at somebody who is going to buy the Lavar Ball shoe and say, "Why you want to buy those shoes for? That's dumb. If you buy that, you an idiot. You know, you're a jackass, you're this, you're that." Why about if they, if they have the money to do it and they want to do it, go ahead and let them do it, right? I guarantee you your woman has shoes in her closet that cost more than $500. I guarantee you. And I'm talking about, Shannon, his white woman. I guarantee you she got a pair of, probably a pair of shoes that he bought her that are valued at well over $500.
"He got to bring the price down. If you want to do $100, and maybe they don't sell in America like this." And see, Shannon's also assuming, like a lot of people are assuming, that, um, that Lavar Ball, because he's a so-called black man, that he has to market his shoes to kids in lower-income, uh, neighborhoods or environments. Maybe he's trying to, maybe he's trying to expand his son and, uh, expand the, the brand and the market that he wants to send the shoe out to. But Stephon Marbury has a shoe. It's not a major backing, but it does very well overseas. And so maybe that's the case. I just think he rubbed a lot of, of the, the big brands the wrong way. "Why would he care about that?" "Um, he, he wants to compete with the big brands. This is what's called having a startup business. That's what his focus is. I want a billion dollars. You don't have to give it to me all at once. You can give it to me 100 million over 10 years."
"Skip, that was the wrong way to go about it. Say, 'Yes, I would love to work with the big brands, the name brand sneaker companies, and hopefully we can come to something that my son, myself, and, and, uh, the shoe.' Because I have a prototype of my own. But to go about it this way, I think he's going to have a problem moving the shoe." You know, Lavar Ball has the mindset of most of the entrepreneurs who started these other sneaker companies. When you read about them, or in any business, you know, when you read about Bill Gates, or you read about Steve Jobs, or any of these men who struck out on their own, Phil Knight, they were, uh, they were unapologetic about their vision. It doesn't mean that it's going to be successful, but they didn't let people like Shannon, no disrespect, but the people who want to give you advice, nine times out of 10, 99 times out of 100, they're not even proficient in what they're trying to give you advice about. Shannon doesn't run a sneaker company. Shannon is not a, uh, he, he's not a, uh, a member or a sponsor. He's not, he's not a member of a flagship sneaker company. He's not selling any items, right? He's on a TV show. He doesn't know the first thing about, uh, about selling shoes. But he wants to give Lavar Ball advice about how to sell shoes. Now, if Michael Jordan came out and said, "You know, Lavar, I think he might have made the wrong decision because of this, this, this, and that," then you'd have to listen to a degree. But, you know, that's what people get paid for today. It's just to talk about things that they really don't know anything about.
"Okay, I hear you. You're probably right. This could be an epic fail on the part of Lavar Ball. And that's a lot of times, black, so-called black people, they love to tell other, so-called blacks about how they should work with the big corporations as opposed to have belief in themselves. Because most, so-called blacks, have a very, very low belief in themselves." "But once again, my step back perspective on this is, somehow Lavar Ball continues to make himself the biggest story in sports." "Yeah, because he's a brilliant marketer. The man knows how to market himself, his son, and now this shoe. He, he's risen above NBA playoff stories. This has become, over the last 24 hours, the biggest story in sports. It's trending, seriously. Two months ago, just two months ago, I didn't know who Lavar Ball was. I knew who Lonzo was, but I didn't know about his dad." "No, right? Nope. And all of a sudden, this man now has the cache and the, you know what? Yeah, the, but he's got the cache to dare to launch his own sneaker line. You know why? Because Lavar Ball obviously feels like he has nothing to lose. All right, he obviously feels like if his son doesn't succeed in basketball, all his son has to do is come home and work with him on the family business, whatever that is. Personal training, or, you know, Lavar Ball is clearly a mason, so he'll probably get a hookup for his son at some job somewhere, or some business venture somewhere. But he's operating like a man who has no fear, right? He's not somebody who's coming from an impoverished environment in regards to how he raised his children. When I see the video of them at the house, they seem like they come from and live in a, in a nice house already. So, I mean, when your vantage point is, I live in a nice house, I have my own business already, and this business venture is just going to get us into a mansion. If it fails, it fails."
"After thumbing his num at Nike and Under Armour and Adidas, all of them, he said, 'Heck with you, heck with you, heck with you. Watch this.' And he has launched his own line and immediately, within 24 hours, he has generated publicity that Nike and Under Armour and Adidas would be in awe of generating in 24 hours, right?" "Yes, because everybody's talking about this one shoe that's six months away from hitting the market, right? That's astonishing to me. And it's, it's credit to Lavar for somehow pulling this off because now every talk show in America is having a ball with Lavar Ball. Right? That's, that's all anybody's talking about. And, and we're going to bring Rob Parker on in a little while. We're going to do it again. We're going to bring Rob Parker, dumb ass, out to talk about what again? Talk about it, go deeper into it. But again, my step back here is, I'm trying to figure out how he's doing this because this is an incredibly creative marketing scheme." "You just answered your own question. He understands the human psyche. People want what they can't have. You make something almost $500, they're going to say, you know what, goddamn, you know, I got to at least get one of these. I mean, in my life, just, just seeing a lot of the dumbass sales crazes that have gone on in, in this society, some of the things that have taken the sales world or the commerce world by storm, you know, whether it was, uh, uh, you know, the Tickle Me Elmo doll, or a lot of the other dumb shit that people almost broke down department store walls for. And, you know, he just understands the human psyche very well. That's what being a good salesman is all about. All right, so he understands, he understands he's not going to get the, the commercial time or the, uh, distributorship of a Nike or Reebok or an Adidas, obviously. So you get, you get, you know, you get some form of, of, of, of publicity by overpricing the shoe, right? So that you can build a buzz, you can get people to say, what's this about? If nothing else, to purchase it as a novelty item that he's trying to pull off because he's saying, okay, it's going to cost you $500 to merely reserve some of the original sneakers that are going to hit the market in six more months, right? And by the way, if you send me your $500, no refunds, no money back. So you, you, he, he will have your $500. And let's, let's just do the math. I don't know what, I don't know, this is out of my list. If he sells a, okay, I just, that's the number I wrote down. What if he sells a thousand in the next week or so because people are foolish enough? They like the mystique of this. Wow, I want to be part of this. Like it's starting to have some cool factor to it. And by the way, the shoes look pretty good to me. I don't know, what do I know? I think they look pretty good."
"You think not, Skip? Ass, no. He an ordered by three pair already trying to front like he, oh, you know, I don't know. No, you ordered it about three pair, Skip. I mean, I like the black and, you know why I like black and gold? Vanderbilt colors. Way to go. I told you his ass and ordered a pair. Maybe you're valuable now." "It's, it's reporting that O.J. said he bought a pair. Did Michael?" "Oh, they said they did. Yeah, O.J. O.J. Simpson and Michael Bennett are two NFL attention whores. They ordered a pair just to say that they ordered a pair. That's the point. That's who Lavar Ball is marketing to. He's marketing to, you know, he's marketing to idiots that are looking for attention and they have a few more dollars than they need." "Yes, yes, because I, that'll help. They say they purchased them, okay? But, but think about this. So if a thousand people buy these shoes the next week or so, that would give him $500,000 in seed money to actually produce the shoes, to make the shoes. So then he makes X number originally to satisfy the, the five, the thousand, right? And then you're off to the races. And maybe the publicity starts to feed off itself and generate more interest. I don't know. I don't, I don't think he's crazy though, Skip. Because if you remember Phil Knight, when he started Nike, was selling shoes out of the trunk of his car. Okay? When Nike started out, Nike was a running shoe. All right? He had guys like Steve Prefontaine running five and 10Ks in his, um, in his shoe. That's how he was trying to build his shoe up. For those who don't know, like the Nike Cortez, that was the original Nike shoe, as a running shoe. Wasn't until Jordan came around and Jordan wanted to be signed to Adidas. If I remember correctly, Adidas or Reebok, one of the two, and he couldn't get a deal with them. So, you know, Phil Knight came around and said, 'Look, this is what we want to do. This is our vision for you.' They showed Jordan the red, the, uh, the black and white shoe, and Jordan said, 'Oh, no, I can't wear that.' And they said, 'Why?' And I think Jordan said something about, 'Those are the devil's colors,' something along those lines. He said, you know, and they ended up, they ended up, you know, selling the shoe to him, selling him on the shoe, and the rest is history. But everybody comes from nowhere, right? It's just a matter of how you get the way you're trying to get to. But everybody comes from nowhere at some point. Everyone is nowhere, just a matter of how they plot, plan, or scheme to get to where they want to go. At least he got a head start. He's on the internet. He's already got people talking about it. So basically, uh, uh, for Nike to get to where it was, like word of mouth, this guy selling waffle shoes out of the back of the trunk of his car, blah, blah, blah. But Skip, here's the thing. Now I know someone, um, I have two stylists, you know, I'll be styling and profiling. Shel and Arturo. Arturo used to be the executive guy that when you go to the showroom at Ralph Lauren, he designed the showroom, how you saw the mannequin dressed, he did all that. But he wanted to do his own thing as far as clothing. Talk to Mr. Lauren about it, and Mr. Lauren said, 'Okay, gave him his blessing.' He went out on his own. Now he has the same fabrics that Mr. Lauren has, and Bone and Tom Ford, but he can't charge those prices. No, because he's just getting into the business and he doesn't have those names. He also doesn't have the mouthpiece that Lavar Ball has. Shannon, if that guy was going all over talk shows, making a name for himself, then maybe he could charge those prices. So his price point has to be different than theirs. And I think that's the problem that, that Lavar doesn't understand. You can't charge three times. Now, there's only one guy that can charge $400 or $500 for a sneaker, and his logo is on the sneaker. That's Jumpman. That's Michael Jordan. You're not Michael Jordan. So for you to think that your price point can be two to three times what the average, a known commodity, everybody knows what Nike is, everybody knows the, the athletes, especially basketball players that were Nike, they know Adidas, they know you, and, but for you to come out here and to look at the logo, it just looks like a. Now, I would like to think, could he have moved these if he had a, if he had a relationship, if he had handled the situation better? Imagine if there's a on that shoe or those three, those three lines."
"But Lavar Ball's point is that if he had been with those companies, they would have gotten most of the money. They would have just pimped his son out. That's his point. All right, that, that's his stance on the issue. Whether or not he would have made more money, who knows? In the long run, who knows how he's going to make more money or whether or not he's going to make more money, uh, with this singular endeavor that he's, uh, engaging in. But, you know, he has belief in, in his vision. We'll see." "Or the UA, I guarantee you people buy because they look a little bit like the Steph Curry, the Steph Curry 3 that while you bought driving. They do look a little bit like the Steph Curry joints. People like brands. And right now, what is his brand? What he's his own brand. These are Lavar shoes more than their Lonzo shoes." "Not what we're doing here. That's, well, he, he's made it about Lavar because that's what we're talking about. Oh, the Lavar Ball, the Lonzo 2. Hold on. What you mean Lavar and Lonzo? No, Lonzo is the basketball player. He's wearing the shoe. Lavar going to be wearing no shoe." "No, I got it. But we don't even know where Lonzo's going to be playing. So you can't even tie it to the Lakers. He's going to be the next big Laker. I don't know where he's going to be. He could be Phoenix. I don't know where."
"I just wish he would have handled the situation a lot better, had a better working relationship. Because I believe Nike would have been willing, or one of these shoe companies would have been willing to work with him. But when you tell them, there's only one guy making 100 million a year on shoes, and you know who that is, Skip, that's Jumpman. I, who knows? Maybe Lavar wanted to purposefully price himself out. Who knows what's going on in some of these guys' minds? He seems to have a business plan, though." "I got, but he's been there since '84." "But what if he's still one step ahead of us? And what if he gets a thousand people to pony up $500?" "See, Skip, Skip has a single of mindset like I said before. Skip has a, the, the mindset, the mentality of a, of an independent man, right? Shannon has the mindset of a liberal black. So everything with, with Shannon is about immediate security. Like I said before, Lavar Ball is making moves like a man who's not scared to fail. Why is he not scared to fail? Look at the background of where Lonzo Ball is standing. He has his own basketball court at his own house. And in, uh, Lavar Ball's mind, the worst that can happen is my son, you know, gets injured, can't play professional basketball, he comes back home to live with me, and, uh, you know, he goes into my personal training business. That's the worst that could happen."
"And he takes that to fund the project. And then a month into the project, he drops the price to $200 bucks or whatever and makes it more marketable." "Well, I'm be, that's exactly what I, what I see. He's trying to cause a buzz by by pricing the shoe at $500. If the shoe takes off, he's going to put out a more marketable version for kids. You know, it'll probably be like, like $150 or $160 or something like that. But, you know, no, Lavar, it'll be like, you know, it'll be three different grades. It'll be the big baller grade, it'll be the, uh, the, you know, the, the, uh, uh, you know, the relaxation, the relaxation shoe, and then it'll be the shoe for kids. And, you know, the leisurely, the leisure wear suit, uh, shoe, you know, all type of different brands and different demographics he's going to try to appeal to by putting out different types of shoes. That's what I see."
"Be upset you charge me $500 that you can get them for two? No refunds. No refunds." "So think you're saying that you've been, he'll just say you got the original rollout. You got a, um, you got a novelty item, right? Been talked into paying the $500 because you, you're intrigued." "No, huh? I'm not that intrigued." "Okay, but I've seen these. And I'm not saying your, I mean, if I was a security, if I was a security guard and, you know, some place and I want to be comfortable all day, I'm have me on some black shoes or something like $500 black shoes. N-no. If I work in security, I don't need no $500." "Okay, but you've seen what I've seen in the past. Every once in a while, something catches fire, yes, on the internet or just out in public, it's word of mouth, okay? And somehow it becomes a status symbol at an absurdly high price to own this pair of sneakers, whatever it might be. Recently, I, I did a sneaker shopping segment for Complex at Flight Club here in LA, and they're on consignment, so they're used, you know, barely used shoes. Undefeated. I did not, but I saw behind locked glass. I saw some Yeezys. Yeah, and thank you. I was just, that's why I mentioned it. The Kanye West joints, you know, Kanye West, uh, utilized a very similar marketing, uh, plan. Overpriced the shoe and make it seem more valuable than it really is. It's called psychological pricing. And I think it was the Red October."
"And you got them. I got them. You got them." "Well, these were $5,000." "Yeah, well, it's a status symbol. Now, didn't Shannon, black ass, just say he wouldn't pay $500 for sneakers, but he paid $5,000 for some damn Yeezys?" "Symbol. It just became a thing for. You can't really, again, it's easy, so it's a big deal. But, but again, it, it worked. That they can sell them. And I don't know how much you paid for yours. But did you pay $5,000?" "No, no, no. I traded AFC Super Bowl AFC sneakers. I told." "Oh, okay. So he bet them. But the, the value of the shoe was still $5,000. But that shows you that, that shows you that Shannon put a monetary value on those shoes that was something that he felt like he had to have as Skip would say, a status symbol. Because I told you my guy in Boston, oh, that was it. Oh, oh, okay. That was the deal. But I got a lot of stuff, Skip. I got, I got all three of the latest. The ones I got, the Red October, I got the black ones, I got the, uh, collection is not complete without the big to N. That's going to make my collection. You know, I got the Pig Cruisers, I got the Mirror RS, I got." "Oh, so you see how, you see how Shannon is. So now when Lavar Ball says that to, 'Pay $500 for these shoes, you got to be a big baller.' That's a bad thing. But Shannon said these shoes are not going to make his collection. In other words, they're not, they're not of a high enough status."
"Got light. This is all anybody is talking about. The Zo 2. Get I tell you what, they might be talking about it when they start buying them. That's what me and you going to have another conversation about this. Yeah." "In other words, he's going to wait to see how it turns out. Like most, so-called blacks, that have no faith and no belief, right? A lot of people, they don't want to be with you through the process. They want to be with you, uh, after the result. Okay, then I might get on board. We might need to get in the bottom floor. And they laughed at the people of Apple. They laughed at Facebook. And look at Mark Zuckerberg. They got about face."
"Bottom line, how much of these proceeds does Lonzo get? Get, or Lavar get to keep? 100% doing it on their own, right? They don't have to. Nike might have gotten what, 75% of the pro." "You have to respect that he's that he's doing it on his own. I mean, whether, whether he's marketing these to the masses, I don't know. I'm the first to say, I am obviously not a big baller because I am not spending $500 on sneakers." "But you probably have about 10 to 20 pairs of shoes in your closet that cost double that. So the only reason why you're saying that is because it's popular to say that you're not going to spend that amount of money on shoes because you know damn well you probably have at least 15 pairs of shoes in your closet that that cost over $500." "I mean, people will do it. Skip, you spent big money. I spent big money on dress shoes. I mean, exactly. That's why I said, look, go on, go on the Polo website, look at what they price dress shoes at. Look, you spend big money on shoes, but established shoes. Just for some perspective, and this is, these numbers are adjusted for inflation. The shoe debut list, Air Jordan 1 in 1985, adjusted inflation, $145. Kobe's original shoe, $151. LeBron, $145. So you're talking about somebody who hasn't been drafted yet, charging $495 for their."
"I got a couple. I had the, uh, their Jordans with established brands. And my mom, I got them from, my senior year for Christmas in 1984. My mom waited, waited in line for like three hours. She said, 'Boy, you better love these shoes here.' But Skip, that was really the beginning of the shoe craze when the Jordan came out. But they were a $100. And Jordan could fly because so people got those shoes, they said, 'Well, man, maybe I can jump like Jordan.' You mean, that's how they sold it to you, to your dumb ass." "Well, they're still getting their shoes. Hey, that's the thing. You know what I'm thinking about? Plunging. I think I just might. I might put down $500." "You see, didn't I say he done already bought three pairs now? That's why he said, 'I'm thinking about plunging.' No, you already plunged. You bought three pairs already, Skip. Stop playing. You bought a pair for you, you bought a pair for your woman, and you bought a pair for your damn dog. You going to go away from the more you talk, the more you're going to go away from the Jordan Futures and where and where the Lonzo."
"You know what? I like Lonzo as a player. I'm a fan of him. I told you that through the college year, right?" "All right, so I wasn't going to include the Rob Parker scene in the video for the Lavar Ball shoe because, uh, Rob Parker's kind of dim with it. But there's a portion here with Skip talking to Rob Parker and Shannon where, like I stated before, Skip is going to show you the ruling class mentality that he has as a Caucasian, and he's going to kind of chastise these two for having kind of a slave mind. Watch what Skip says to them."
"Yes, talk me through this. We talk all the time on the show, racism live and hell in this country, how tough it can be for a black man to make his way in this world. So here's a black man straight out of comp. Yes. And all of a sudden, in two months, I didn't know who he was two months ago. He has talked his way into America's consciousness. He's a household name. This isn't Lonzo's shoe. This is Lavar's shoe. In the end, you're buying Lavar's shoe because he's got some mystique that he has built. He's got a gift of gab. And I just admire, maybe I'm admiring for the wrong reasons, but he's pulling this off. And, and this is a brilliant scheme, if you want to call it a scheme, in which he, remember, he's saying these shoes won't even be available for six months. So you're going to have to buy it on the come. You're going to have to give me your $500, and there are no refunds. You, no, you, you give me $500, I keep $500. Call the attorney general for the State of California. Do I get store credit? How about street?"
"See, didn't pick up on what Skip said. That's why Skip prefers his statement by saying to Shannon, you know, you talk all the time about how tough it is for, for a black man to come up in this country. So Skip was kind of in a roundabout way saying, shouldn't you be wholeheartedly in favor of Lavar Ball trying to start his own business enterprise instead of going on and on about Nike and Reebok and, uh, how he should want their support?" "I got, hold on, Skip. So basically, I get, I can't get, I can't get any other product, maybe a t-shirt or something down the line. So I got to either buy, get this shoe, or nothing. Or nothing." "What if they don't, what if they don't get made? What if it's a, I mean, but he's, he's really asking the consumers to fund the project, right?" "Yes, that's what it is. It could be brilliant if it works. But you, you need to sell. Now, these reports are out there that he's selling X number, and it, it's almost like hysteria, you know, like it's, it's creating its own mystique. So we're talking about it. I'll bet every talk show in America is talking about ball, you know, like, have a ball with Lavar Ball, right?" "I'm ball blocking." "Yeah, right. You see, you see what he said? He's baller blocking. But supposedly he's, uh, Mr. Pro-black. That's what he said." "Now look at Joy's face. Joy put her face down when he said that because even, she saw how, how dumb he sounded when he said that he's quote unquote baller blocking. All right. And I like Shannon, but Shannon, like I said, he's, uh, he's a liberal black. So a liberal, like is like a female on her menstrual. You never know what her emotions are going to be."
"Here's the thing, Skip. You make a very interesting point. You said this is Lavar's shoe because Lonzo's going to wear it. Shouldn't Lonzo have some say how, how sturdy the shoe should be? How do you know he didn't? Are you just saying that just to say it? Or or did you do any research behind whether or not, uh, Lonzo had say in the shoe?" "You really think that Lavar Ball's gonna put his son in a shoe that Lonzo did not, uh, give the green light to? Come on, brother. You got to do a little better than that." "Seem like Lonzo has to say about anything. The only thing is, you got to admit, Steph Curry was the hottest NBA player going. His sneaker was a bomb. And people could, you just got not the bomb, a bomb. It was a bomb. His sneaker did not, I mean, it did good for a while. I mean, like when they came out with the one that looked like a walk shoe, that was ordered. That's what, right? That shoe actually, that shoe actually sold out. All right. There's no such thing as bad publicity, right?" "That's what it looked like. Retirement facility. And you know, you put on those shoes and you're like, bro."
"But look, I get it. I get it. He's like, these, if I go to one of these big shoe companies, they're making all the money, but they're taking all the risk. You take no risk. Take 10%. Life is a risk, bro. You get out of bed in the morning, it's a risk. You can leave your house and get robbed and pistol-whipped and get shot. You can cross the street and get hit by a car. See, that's more the fearmongering that you, that you get from, uh, blacks with a slave mentality. When I say slave mentality, I don't mean that they are necessarily subservient to Caucasians. I just mean that they live their life through fear. They always have to go through conventions that have already been preset for them so that they can feel secure. All right? That's why, that's why they can't understand, uh, this guy Lavar Ball. And once again, I'm not in favor of $500 sneakers. I don't, I don't, like I said, I'm not into sneakers like that. But the man has a belief in himself. And that, you know, that's what's causing a lot of this controversy is the fact that he's a so-called black man who believes in himself."
"I stated that from the very start. I got, I would have gotten in with Nike. There's something to owning your own thing. But you know what comes with it? What do you get?" "Shannon, finish." "Yeah, you get microfiber python texture. And you know what python texture talking? This is python. They throw in a watch. If you buy a, I hope they don't throw that watch. The shoes come with that watch. That's a gift. Coming up." "These idiots anyway. Uh, Joy, Joy, whatever her name is, she should be the last one talking. If the shoe takes off, she'll be the first one outside Lonzo Ball and Lavar Ball's hotel room. All right, she'll be, she'll be ready to, should be ready to handle both their balls, if you know what I'm saying. But anyway, peace."