Lonzo Ball blames injury woes on his dad's Big Baller Brand shoes: 'They were like kickball shoes'

Lonzo Ball was supposed to be the next great point guard in the NBA. But just as he was starting to prove the hype, injury struck and forced him to miss two-plus NBA seasons. He finally made his long-awaited return earlier this season but he has played only six games so far as the Bulls have taken a cautious approach in his comeback.

Looking back at his career, Lonzo said that he was relatively healthy both in high school and college. He said that he only started suffering various injuries when he entered the NBA, and he believes that starting his pro career wearing his dad's Big Baller Brand shoes had something to do with that.

"They were like kickball shoes." Ball said to ESPN. "I think it's a possibility for sure, to be honest with you. I wasn't really getting hurt like that until I started wearing them."

Lonzo decided to represent his dad's shoe company

The Lakers infamously picked Lonzo 2nd overall in the 2017 NBA Draft, taking him over current stars Jayson Tatum, De'Aaron Fox, Donovan Mitchell, and Bam Adebayo. But if there was a bigger shocker that summer, it was that Lonzo took a different path regarding his shoe deal.

While most of his fellow rookies signed with Nike, Adidas, or the other top brands, Lonzo chose to represent his dad's shoe company and immediately got his signature shoe. Dubbed the ZO2 Prime, the sneaker was controversially released at a hefty $495.00 price tag.

"I was an Adidas kid since high school, so I was thinking that was going to be the route," Ball added. "But what was told to me, I guess, wasn't what really happened. I was told that nobody wanted to partner with me, so my dad was like, 'Just rock the brand.' And I was like, 'All right.'

The shoes were defective

Not only did Lonzo's Big Baller Brand shoe bomb out in the market because of its ridiculous price, but it also bombed out literally and 'exploded' on Zo's foot. He admitted that he had to change pairs every quarter because they would just rip while playing in them.

"No one knows the real story about them shoes, though," Ball said in an episode of Light Harted Podcast in 2019. "Them ZO2s I was playing in, they were not ready. No one knows this, but [Darren Moore, Ball's manager] had a backpack, and he had an extra like four pairs of shoes in there because I had to switch them every quarter. After all, they would justrip….If you literally had my shoes from those games, they just like exploded, bro."

BBB made adjustments to the shoe, and Zo did start his NBA career wearing them. But before he could finish his rookie year, he suffered his first meniscus injury in 2018 and has been plagued with injuries ever since. Ball now wears kicks from Nike's Kobe line, but it remains to be seen if the change can save his once-promising NBA career.