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LiAngelo Ball pulled off a pivot that caught most people off guard when his song “Tweaker” managed to get an impressive amount of traction after he dropped it at the start of the year. It would appear he’s officially put his basketball career in the rearview mirror—and it’s easy to understand why when you consider the financial situation he says compelled him to switch things up.
It’s hard to believe it’s been close to a decade since LaVar Ball thrust himself into the sports media spotlight with the various antics he harnessed to drum up attention for a master plan that revolved around his three sons—Lonzo, LiAngelo, and LaMelo—making it to the NBA.
The man behind Big Baller Brand attracted plenty of mockery at the time, and while he may not have been able to execute his vision to perfection, LaMelo and Lonzo have both done pretty well for themselves since making it to the league (although the latter did have his career derailed by a mysterious knee injury before bouncing back with the Pelicans last season).
LiAngelo, on the other hand, spent some time grinding in the G League before a brief stint with a pro team in Mexico in 2024. He decided to reinvent himself earlier this year by rebranding as “GELO” and resurrecting his music career with “Tweaker,” which peaked at No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100.
He subsequently landed a record deal with Def Jam worth a guaranteed $8 million, and it’s safe to say his decision to go that route has literally and figuratively paid off based on what he had to say about what motivated him to go in a new direction.
LiAngleo Ball says his financial situation in the G League motivated him to switch things up and rebrand as a rapper
LiAngelo had enough talent to play basketball at UCLA before he was suspended from the team over a shoplifting incident during a trip to China, but he simply didn’t possess the skills you need to hang in the NBA.
There’s only so much you can do to avoid harboring some jealousy while watching your two brothers rake in tens of millions of dollars while doing exactly that, and during a recent appearance on the BagFuel podcast, he acknowledged he got fed up with the salary he had to subsist on while working toward a dream that was probably never gooing to come to fruition.
LiAngelo made it clear he’s living much more comfortably than he’d had been, saying:
“Really, how it pays, the way of living, everything else. I was in the G League. That’s $3K a month as a grown man. I was getting mine and throwing it. Right when you touch $3K, that s—t ain’t holding nothing.
When I got paid for music, it wasn’t a hard decision. I wasn’t contemplating like, ‘Damn, I gotta hold.’ At this point, I gotta live.”
It could certainly be worse.