HOME TEAM: La La Vazquez, with hubby Carmelo Anthony and son Kiyan, is psyched to return to NYC. (Caitlin Thorne Hersey)
When Carmelo Anthony was traded to the Knicks, his wife — reality star, DJ, and generally bubbly person La La Vazquez — celebrated the way she knows best: new shoes.
“They’re almost Knick colors!” said La La, pulling out a $900 pair of Christian Louboutins in blinding blue suede with a red (unfortunately no orange) sole.
New Yorkers, be prepared. If Madison Square Garden now belongs to Carmelo, La La will soon take the rest of the city.
A former MTV personality and host of VH1 reality shows such as “Charm School” and “Flavor of Love” — and bosom buddy to the likes of Kim Kardashian — La La is 5 feet, 6 inches of ambition. (Not that she’s ever really that short — “I don’t think I own one pair of comfortable shoes,” she said, teetering in zebra-striped platforms.)
‘TATS’ AMORE FOR KNICK STAR AND HIS GIRL
When Carmelo got the call to join the Knicks, the couple were in Los Angeles, waiting for a private plane to take them to Denver. “They’re like, ‘Wait a second, hold the plane. We’ll call you right back,’ ” La La said. They waited on the tarmac for five minutes, until the call came — Anthony was a Knick and La La was returning to the city where she grew up.
Just minutes before his first game, they announced their new reality show, “La La’s Full Court Life.”
Expect a lot of living large in the Big Apple. Much of the show revolves around the 30-year-old La La shopping while cousin Dice, mother Carmen, and La La and Melo’s 3-year-old son, Kiyan, up the drama.
Anyone who watched La La’s first reality show — “La La’s Full Court Wedding” — knows the green-eyed girl from Brooklyn loves her luxuries. The story arc of the six-episode series traced her bridal tribulations as she planned her over-the-top ceremony at Cipriani in New York.
The charm of La La is that nobody seems to begrudge her all her good fortune — perhaps because most of it came about through her own hard work, and because she holds tight to her humble beginnings in Flatbush.
“We lived in my grandmother’s house at 954 Brooklyn Ave.; it was our safe haven,” said the brunette.
She grew up playing in Prospect Park, popping open fire hydrants to cool off on hot summer days.
“My uncle was an amazing roller-skater, even on those concrete streets, and he would roller-skate around with us on his back,” La La says.
She was christened Alani, but her family called her La, and even though they didn’t have much, the family bond was tight.
“My parents split when I was little, but I remained very close with both my mom and my dad. We are all still close today. We may not have had a lot of material things, but we were taught that love and family were what matters,” said La La as Kiyan, chased by his grandmother, raced around their $12,500 a night Trump SoHo duplex suite.
La La was in her early teens when her mother moved them to New Jersey, where La La briefly attended Piscataway HS, and then moved them again to Atlanta.
It was there that La La got her first big break.
“There was an internship available at a local radio station, and I think you were supposed to be 18 and I was, like, 16 or something at the time. But I was determined to get it so I lied on the application,” La La said.
La La’s moxie got her an unpaid gig with another aspiring young radio talent who went by the name “Chris Lover Lover.”
“That was [future rap star] Ludacris. Back then he was Chris Lover Lover on the radio. He was the one who started calling me La La, that’s how I got the name,” she said.
La La and Ludacris worked together as co-hosts on “Future Flavas” — until Ludacris decided to launch a rap career. “I thought it was the craziest idea!” La La admitted.
Soon, she was ready to move on, too. Able to trade in on some of the contacts she’d made in the music world, La La tackled LA. She landed a radio job at one of the city’s premier stations, but already had her eye on breaking into TV.
“I’m so ambitious, so career-driven,” La La says. “When you come from not having much, you want to get to a certain point. Yet even when you do, it’s never enough.”
That next thing came knocking on her door in 2002 — MTV wanted La La to pair with another popular personality, DJ Clue, and had her host shows “Hip-Hop Countdown” and “Direct Effect.”
La La’s fame really blew up when MTV brought her on to “Total Request Live,” its flagship show. She scored interviews left and right with the likes of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, but only one A-lister really impressed her.
“Tom Cruise came on the show one day and he asked me to teach him how to hip-hop dance. It was so crazy, I was like, ‘Oh my god, that’s Tom Cruise behind me, freakin’ me down!’ ” La La said, laughing. “Tom Cruise grinding on you? Yeah, that’s a good memory to have.”
Back in 2002, single, successful, and living in New York City again after years away from home, La La was in no hurry to meet Mr. Right.
But through DJ Clue, she learned that a rising young basketball star, just then joining the NBA, wanted to meet her.
She agreed to meet with the handsome Anthony, who is four years her junior, but said upfront she wasn’t looking for romance.
“I was hesitant. He was just entering the league, and I knew it would be crazy for him. We started out as friends — and I think when you base something on friendship, it’s got a stronger chance of success,” she said.
Once the two actually started dating, it didn’t take Anthony long to propose. He popped the question over Christmas in 2004. But getting the lovebirds to the altar? That took six years.
Along the way, Kiyan appeared, in March, 2007, and the pair finally wed in July 2010. La La now goes officially by La La Anthony, having decided a hyphenated last name isn’t for her. “Too long,” she says.
Until last week the couple was happily splitting their time between Denver and Los Angeles — although a trade to the Knicks was definitely on their minds.
Priority one right now is finding a school for their son and a house for the family, she said.
But once they get settled, the photo-friendly young couple will be reacquainting themselves with all the local hot spots. “We do like to go out and have a good time,” she said.
Meanwhile, La La wants to break into acting — she’s already lining up auditions.
“Believe me, I’m shmoozing every casting director I see. I’m like, ‘Oh you like the Knicks? You want tickets?’ ”
“La La’s Full Court Wedding” will be rebroadcast on VH1 tonight at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m., with La La logging in for a live Twitter chat with VH1.