La La Vasquez Prefers Smiths Comparison Over Beckhams

La La Vasquez and her husband New York Knicks baller Carmelo Anthony have returned home. The Brooklyn natives returned to the Big Apple after Carmelo received a blockbuster trade to the New York Knicks. Fitting, as the couple is as ambitious as they are stylish. La La quickly established herself as the “First Lady of the NBA” or at least according to the New York Times. La La and Carmelo spoke with the New York Times about building their brands and couples they look up to. And no, they’re not attempting to become the next “Posh and Becks” Victoria and David Beckham as implied by the NYT writer.

On Whether La La is more like Victoria Beckham and David or Khloe and Lamar:
I love Will Smith and Jada Pinkett! You see the love, and you can see the support, and they partner on things and produce together. But she has a life, and he has a life.

On building their business empire together; Carmelo added:
I saw her wanting to go into movies and producing films and documentaries and reality shows, So I said instead of letting somebody else come on board and produce all this stuff, we have the capabilities and the relationships, we can create our own production company and bring everything through that.

On struggling to shed the Basketball Wife image:
A lot of times with basketball players, their wives, and I’m not criticizing, but their life is just about the man, what time is he getting home, why hasn’t he called me? But I’m so much more than” that. I’m a mom, I’m an actress, I’m a producer. Like, out of all that, I don’t want to just be called a basketball wife. What I see in Will Smith and Jada Pinkett, is having your own, and I tell everyone that.”

On their relationship role models, Carmelo chimed in:
Will and Jada have a tremendous relationships, Jay-Z and Beyonce have a tremendous relationship, Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys, they’re a couple we see that inspires us. But we want to be ourselves. We want people to say, ‘We want our relationship to be like Melo and LaLa.’

La La’s Full Court Life premieres on VH1 on August 22nd.

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top