LaVar Ball revealed that his longtime wife, Tina Ball, has decided to walk away from their nearly 30-year marriage, marking a stunning personal turn for one of basketball’s most recognizable families. During a casual appearance on streamer N3on’s YouTube channel, the Big Baller Brand patriarch said Tina made the decision to “go her own way,” while confirming he has already found someone else.
“You know, with my wife, Tina decided to go her own way—that’s why you don’t see her right here,” LaVar said. “But she want to go do something else, that’s fine with me. We had our run.” He added, “The fact that if you decide to go this way, I’m going to go that way, that’s fine. That’s deep. It is what it is, man.”
The most surprising part came when LaVar admitted he has moved on romantically.
“I had that with her. And I found somebody else, but it is what it is,” he said, while still reflecting on the years they shared as something meaningful.
LaVar and Tina married in 1997 after meeting as student-athletes at Cal State Los Angeles. Together, they raised three sons who became part of one of the most talked-about sports families of the 2010s: Lonzo Ball, LiAngelo Ball and LaMelo Ball. The family later turned that attention into Big Baller Brand, which launched in 2016, and the Facebook Watch reality series “Ball in the Family,” which followed their personal lives, basketball careers and family challenges.
Their story was not just about basketball success. Tina suffered a major stroke in February 2017, a health battle that became part of the family’s public journey. ESPN previously noted that “Ball in the Family” addressed Tina’s stroke and recovery, while The Washington Post reported that she relied heavily on her parents as she worked to regain speech and strength.
LaVar also spoke about Tina’s health during the interview, saying the stroke never changed how he viewed her. “Even though she had the stroke, and getting older, she would never be like, ‘Oh man.’ She was always beautiful in my eyes,” he said. “Until you say, ‘I want to go do something else.’ Now you’re not as beautiful to me again.”
The divorce reveal also comes after LaVar’s own serious medical crisis. In 2025, he opened up about complications from diabetes that led to multiple surgeries, blood transfusions and the amputation of part of his right leg. “I had an infection on my foot that started spreading through my blood due to not paying attention to my diabetes,” he told SLAM.
Despite the split, the Ball family name remains active across sports and entertainment. Lonzo has continued his NBA career, LaMelo became one of the league’s biggest young stars, and LiAngelo found a new lane in music after “Tweaker” led to a reported Def Jam/UMG deal worth up to $13 million.
For years, LaVar and Tina represented the foundation behind the Ball brothers’ rise. Now, their marriage appears to be closing just as another chapter begins for the family that turned private ambition into a public empire.
