LaVar Ball Responds to Nike Criticism, Says Big Baller Brand Will Be Competitor

LaVar Ball has issued a retort to Nike's director of international basketball George Raveling's comments about the outspoken father of UCLA star Lonzo Ball being bad for basketball.

In an Instagram post, Ball proclaimed his Big Baller Brand was coming after Nike's spot on the sports apparel spectrum:

On Thursday, per Michael Smith of the SportsBusiness Journal, Raveling said Ball was the "worst thing to happen to basketball in the last hundred years.”

Ball has been making the media rounds since the college basketball regular season to promote his brand, among other things. 

In March, Ball told Josh Peter of USA Today he would've beat Michael Jordan in a game of one-on-one in his prime. 

“Back in my heyday, I would kill Michael Jordan one-on-one," he said. “I would just back (Jordan) in and lift him off the ground and call a foul every time he fouls me when I do a jump hook to the right or the left."

Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman projects Lonzo to be one of the top picks in June's NBA draft after the guard helped lead UCLA to a 31-5 record and an appearance in the Sweet 16 last season. 

For more news, rumors and related stories about Lonzo Ball and the 2017 NBA Draft, check out the NBA stream on Bleacher Report's app.