Marissa D Mitchell
An unauthorized sports biography, We Ballin’: What I learned from LaVar Ball aboutBasketball, Business, and Bravado centers on the rise in fame and fortune of LaVar Ball, father ofthe Ball brothers and founder of the Big Baller Brand. It is told from the perspective of MarissaMitchell, former protégé and later biographer and publicist for LaVar Ball.Written from Marissa’s viewpoint, the story begins with a twelve-year-old girl aspiring toplay basketball. Her father seeks out a coach to explore his book-smart daughter’s athletic prowess.He ended up finding a loud, boisterous local man named LaVar Ball. Mr. Ball put her through atough, disciplined training program that honed her body while she often played one-on-onebasketball with his small children. During that time, LaVar confided in her his dreams to make histhree sons NBA players using a similar training method. Although she decided not to playbasketball in college, instead taking the academic route, she and her father kept in contact withMr. Ball throughout the years. With her background in English and teaching, she later contactedMr. Ball with the offer to write his biography. It was the year the three “Ball Brothers” took theirpublic high school basketball team to the California State Championship.Mr. Ball was very enthusiastic to have Marissa back in the fold of the Ball family. Severalin-person interviews ensued, excerpts of which are included in the manuscript. During thoseinterviews, Marissa was asked to assume more responsibilities for the growing family business(Big Baller Brand and Big Baller Media) with the understanding her compensation would beretroactive, with a solid contract at the end of the year 2017. Marissa eagerly accepted the challengeand with the biography almost completed and having worked countless hours pro bono (endingwith Lonzo Ball being drafted to the Lakers), Marissa was then fired by LaVar Ball’s new manager.As she comes to terms with being fired and dealing with the complicated emotions thatresulted from her one-time role model having her dismissed, she began to see LaVar for what hetruly is. She saw firsthand how money, fame, and success can affect people who seem to have yourback. In her story, Marissa provides a chronological look at how the business grew and the Ballbrothers evolved into pro basketball players. She examines the many controversies LaVar Ballfound himself in—from his sons arrest in China to his Twitter war with Donald Trump.Through it all, this idealistic young woman learned that people are not always the way theyappear on the outside. And more importantly, through challenges and difficult situations, personalgrowth can come along when you least expect it. Interestingly enough, after everything she wentthrough, Marissa learned a lot about herself and more importantly, she ended up with the exactthings she admired in the Ball family: her own family, a growing career, and a renewed sense ofself. 3
