In 2015, I photographed a lot of top high school basketball prospects in the Los Angeles area,
including Tyler Dorsey, Chimezie Metu, Chance Comanche, TJ Leaf, Onyeka Okongwu and many others.
The Ball brothers - Lonzo, LiAngelo, and LaMelo Ball were the only ones I did a photoshoot at
their house. Whereas the other coaches and players thought of a photoshoot as a distraction, Lavar
saw it as an opportunity to get his boys ready for the publicity they were about to receive.
I arrived at Lavar’s early on a Saturday morning in mid February
2015. At the time, Lonzo was a junior, LiAngelo was a sophomore,
and LaMelo was an eighth grader. Lavar greeted me, and I thought his sons might be sleeping,
but they were already up and ready as they walked onto Lavar’s backyard basketball court.
Among the Ball brothers, Lonzo was clearly the most talented. LaMelo was the loudest
and most talkative, and LiAngelo was the most photogenic. Having spent a whole day with Lavar,
and working out with his sons, I had enough rapport built up to begin shooting and asking
them to pose or make a certain move. Since Lavar said Lonzo had the chance to be better
than Michael Jordan, I captured him in the Jumpman pose from two different angles.
I also liked the photos of LaMelo in the background because it showed he was
learning from his older brothers. Yet he still had his own swagger. In fact,
when Lavar gave me a tour of the house, the one thing I remember,
other than his immense basketball video collection, was LaMelo’s sneakers. Inside
LaMelo’s room, there must have been about 50 pairs of sneakers with all the colors of the rainbow,
organized on top of his shelf. Though he signed with Puma, he seemed to be a huge Nike fan.
The court worked well early in the morning, but the southern California sun became too intense,
so I moved everyone to the garage, which Lavar had converted into a workout room
for the boys to do situps, pushups, and work on their handle.
In the garage, there was a photo of Lonzo sitting on top of the hoop with a crown on his head.
Lavar had taken this photo, and this idea that he considered his sons the chosen ones, almost like
royalty, lingered in my head. So I brought a real crown for the shoot. LiAngelo was wearing a red
shirt that matched the crown so it was fitting he should wear it. Lonzo helped me with the lighting
as I snapped this regal picture of his brother. LaMelo, age 14, was a bundle of energy and jokes.
At one point Tina walked into the garage and scolded him for cursing. Later she confided to me
that he takes after her, can’t let someone get the last word in. I had him pose with one basketball
but he insisted on two balls for the photos. Getting LaMelo to look at the camera was a
challenge. I captured this image at the split second he wasn’t talking or looking off camera.
After that, LaMelo began dribbling really fast between his legs and crossing over.
I liked how the reflection in the garage mirror gave this effect. Hard to believe
LaMelo at the time had just a few thousand followers on Instagram, which I thought was
a lot for an 8th grader. In fact, I remember thinking to myself, if we played one-on-one,
I would definitely beat this kid. He’s not even that tall... what a difference a few years makes.
The last shot I wanted to get in the garage was with Lonzo. It may sound like an exaggeration,
but he is the best high school basketball player I’ve seen play in person, and that includes
Derrick Rose, Marcus Camby, and Anthony Harris, among others. Since he was the top point guard
in the nation and an All-American, I wanted to use the American flag, so I had the other
guys hold it as I shot this photo of Lonzo. I added more stars in when I edited this photo
since he was a superstar in the making. Though kind of obvious, it seemed to work.
Then they opened the garage doors, and Lonzo and LiAngelo walked toward LiAngelo’s white BMW,
parked on the street. They wanted a photo with it,
but the location and background wasn’t quite right. I asked them if there were
any hills or mountains around here. I figured there must be since they live in Chino Hills.
“Yeah, up the street a little ways,” said Lonzo. “There’s a hill up there where we go running.”
So I packed my gear into my car, and followed Lonzo and LiAngelo to the top of a nearby hill.
By then, the sun was really bright, but the view in the distance was
good. I tried shooting a few shots with the mountains in the distance,
but it just didn’t work for me. So I asked them to park the car on the other side of the street.
The background had the beautiful green hills and wasn’t distracting from the brothers.
Rather than simply standing in front of their car, I thought it might look more authentic if
one of them had their phone out and they were having a conversation. As I took this photo,
Lavar drove up behind me and yelled, “Time to eat!” I guess Lonzo had texted him...haha.
Before we left, I had my settings on my camera the way I wanted,
and then handed my camera to Lavar and asked him to take this photo. Not bad Lavar!
Back at the house, we ate Lavar’s homemade pancakes, which were pretty good. Some more
friends and relatives had also arrived. Tina’s parents live in basically the same neighborhood,
so they could even walk over. Both Tina and Lavar
had sweet parents and they always welcomed me like one of the family.
Before I left, Lavar handed me this TEAM BALL #We Runnin shirt.
I continued photographing the Ball brothers that season at their games, where they had success, but
did not win any championships. There were obvious differences between Lonzo, a junior at the time,
and LiAngelo, a sophomore. LiAngelo scored at will against most teams. However, when faced against a
player who was his height and more athletic, he had difficulty attempting or making shots.
Also, in the state finals, Lonzo fouled out, his only time doing so all year, and I noticed
the panic on LiAngelo’s face. He couldn’t handle the pressure of the big moment, and Chino Hills
finished runner up in California. Maybe he has changed, but that was the case at the time.
Lonzo, on the other hand, seemed to play even better during clutch moments, and seemingly took
the entire team on his back at times. One playoff game in particular, against Torrey Pines, from
San Diego, I remember in particular. Torrey Pines made 6 three-pointers in a row to start the game,
and only missed 2 shots in the first quarter. Yet Lonzo willed Chino Hills to victory in the
fourth quarter, hitting two contested deep three-pointers in the final two minutes
and scoring Chino Hills last 15 points in the game,
all in the last few minutes. It was truly an All-American performance.
The next season, Lonzo began where he left off, dropping 35 points,
12 rebounds, 13 assists, and 7 steals in a blowout win against one of the state’s best teams
Christian Foothills. It an alley oop dunk over 6-foot-10 T.J. Leaf,
a future UCLA teammate of Lonzo and NBA player, that was particularly impressive.
But then came the media attention, the Big Baller Brand, and you know the rest of the story.
Lavar stopped returning my texts, and that’s where my story with the Ball brothers ends…
at least for now.
If you go to Lavar's house, there's a big framed photo of his three sons.
Now you know the story behind the photos.