Although LaMelo Ball bypassed the NCAA process by turning pro in Australia when he signed with the Illawarra Hawks, he hasn't been able to escape people profiting off his image.
In Bleacher Report's new profile on Ball, his manager and former coach at SPIRE Institute, Jermaine Jackson, lamented those who are making money off the teenager's likeness and hard work. "People done made money off this kid for years," Jackson said. "I don't really want to use the word, but it's damn near like he's a prostitute."
Ball will probably be leaving Australia after this season to enter the NBA draft, and could even be the number one overall pick. But even his short stint in the country has helped boost the entire National Basketball League. His signing alone reportedly generated 1.6 billion impressions across the league's web and social channels. The NBL has also been able to secure new ESPN and Facebook deals to stream LaMelo's games. Ball's first game broke NBL streaming records with more than a million U.S. viewers tuning in to watch him play.
Bleacher Report also suggests that NBL executives and fans pay close attention to LaMelo's social media following. The league is reportedly banking on his 5 million Instagram followers and nearly 600,000 Twitter followers to give the NBL extra exposure. "He's a little bit like our spotlight to the world," NBL owner and executive chairman Larry Kestelman said. "Because until people have a look, because of LaMelo, to see what we have, you don't necessarily know we exist."
Ball seems keenly aware that people are profiting off his exploits in Australia. "People don't know me, know me as a person. They don't know what I've been through," Ball says in the profile. "People don't look at you as a human. People look at you as a dollar sign."
