If ever there was an athlete who could be a spokesperson for middle-child syndrome, it’s LiAngelo Ball – basketball’s black sheep. Nearly a decade ago the 6ft 5in forward was touted as an NBA inevitable with his brothers, Lonzo and LaMelo; most of that promotion came loud and direct from paterfamilias LaVar, who parlayed the acute national interest in the boys into the family-owned Big Baller Brand apparel company.
But while “Zo“ and “Melo” have since realized the father’s prophecy – running point, respectively, for the Chicago Bulls and Charlotte Hornets – “Gelo” morphed into an object of ridicule as he bounced around minor leagues at home and abroad. Just when it seemed LiAngelo couldn’t be any more pitiable, he reemerged at the beginning of this year on a popular stream belonging to an internet personality named N3on to share a rap song he made called Tweaker. “I might swerve, bend that corner / whoa-oh-ohhhh,” he drones on the chorus. “You wanna tweak? / Get up with me and Ima show you how that go.”
