The Junior Basketball Association (JBA) is an American men's professional basketball league. It is designed as an alternative to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), allowing high school and junior college players to immediately play professionally. The league was first announced in December 2017 by media personality Lavar Ball, and it will be completely funded by Ball's sports apparel company Big Baller Brand. The JBA features eight different teams from major American cities, with games in ten different venues. It will play its inaugural season in 2018.
Video Junior Basketball Association
History
On December 20, 2017, SLAM magazine first reported on the formation of the JBA after being sent a statement by Lavar Ball, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Big Baller Brand and father to Los Angeles Lakers player Lonzo Ball and Vytautas Prienai-Bir?tonas players LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball.
According to Lavar Ball, his decision to launch the league was prompted by comments from Mark Emmert, president of the NCAA. Earlier in the month, Emmert had remarked on LiAngelo's departure from UCLA following a shoplifting arrest in China: "Is this a part of someone being part of your university as a student-athlete or is it about using college athletics to prepare yourself to be a pro? If it's the latter, you shouldn't be there in the first place."
The JBA was established as an alternative route for top amateur players to play professionally without having to compete at the college level for no money. Each player will earn $3,000 per month, and 60 percent of their jersey sales, in addition to other endorsement deals. The JBA will be fully funded by Big Baller Brand, and players will be required to wear the brand's merchandise. The league is expected to pay for travel, food, and lodging expenses, although the source of its finances has not been disclosed. Its official logo features LaVar Ball's son Lonzo.
On February 2, 2018, it was revealed that the JBA had directly messaged about 80 blue-chip high school basketball players through Twitter about potentially joining its league, with a vast majority declining the offer and none of them ultimately accepting. The league appointed former National Basketball Association (NBA) players Ed O'Bannon and Earl Watson, along with Lonzo Ball, to its advisory board and selection committee for choosing players who will compete in the league. In its inaugural tryouts, the JBA most notably signed Greg Floyd Jr., a four-star recruit from Las Vegas, and Kezo Brown, a Chicago native and former three-star point guard for Simeon Career Academy. The founder's youngest son LaMelo, a former five-star recruit with professional experience, also joined, being labeled by the league as its "marquee player."
Maps Junior Basketball Association
Teams
The JBA consists of eight teams, with each representing an American city and having nickname "Ballers." Teams do not occupy a specified home arena; instead, every team faces each other in ten different arenas across the United States.
Format
The JBA will be made up of eight teams, with up to 10 players on each roster. The league only allows players between the ages of 17 and 19 and accepts graduating seniors or students working towards a General Educational Development (GED), with rare exceptions being included. All teams featured players primarily handpicked from tryouts held before the season.
The 2018 JBA season is expected to include an All-Star Game, Playoffs, and Finals. The regular season will include eight games per team, with games taking place in venues across the United States. The champions of the JBA season will be given luxury cars, including vehicles from BMW, Cadillac, and Mercedes-Benz, as a reward from the league. Following an eight-team playoffs tournament, which concludes in August, top players from the league will face professional teams from outside the United States in an international tour in the fall and winter of 2018. Through the 2018 season, the JBA will air games through Facebook Live.
Reception
Shortly after JBA was announced in December 2017, Mike Golic of ESPN was among those who expressed doubts about the league's future. The Niagara Gazette considered the league as "ambitious, but not original." On the other hand, The Root considered Ball's idea "genius," and Salon believed that the JBA could "force NCAA reform." Lonzo Ball, son of the JBA's founder, suggested that he would have preferred the JBA over college basketball.
JBA tickets, which cost $99 for courtside seats, $59 for center court, and $40 for above center court, were criticized as "unreasonably expensive" by the USA Today website For The Win. The website also labeled JBA ticket sales as "comically abysmal," with over 90 percent of seats still being available less than three weeks before the season opener. The New York Post wrote, "In what should come a surprise to no one, LaVar Ball is struggling to find an audience with his newly launched Junior Basketball Association."
References
External links
- Official website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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