Ball brothers combine for 29 in Lithuania debut

LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball combined to score 29 points in their professional basketball debut for Lithuanian club Prienai Vytautas on Tuesday.

LiAngelo, 19, started and scored 19 points on 8-of-19 shooting, while younger brother LaMelo, 16, had 10 points and nine assists but turned the ball over six times.

LaMelo finished 4-for-10 from the field, and Prienai Vytautas beat Zalgiris' second division team 90-80 in front of a crowd of about 1,500 people, including the boys' father, LaVar Ball, and his wife, Tina.

Vytautas recently formed the Big Baller Brand Challenge, a series of five "friendly" games to welcome the brothers to the team. Vytautas normally plays in both the Lithuanian and Baltic leagues, with the Baltic featuring lower-level competition.

  
However, soon after the boys joined the team, Vytautas withdrew from the Baltic league.

Last week, LaVar Ball predicted that all three of his sons would be playing for the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, the year LaMelo would be eligible for the NBA draft.
The oldest Ball brother, Lonzo, is currently a rookie with the Lakers, and LiAngelo is draft-eligible this year. As LaVar told the reporter he spoke to, "'Gelo will be (a Laker) this year."

Those comments came before LaVar made waves in the Lakers organization by criticizing head coach Luke Walton, telling ESPN the 37-year-old has lost the team.

"You can see they're not playing for Luke no more," Ball told ESPN. "Luke doesn't have control of the team no more. They don't want to play for him.

"Nobody wants to play for him. I can see it. No high-fives when they come out of the game. People don't know why they're in the game. He's too young. He's too young. ... He ain't connecting with them anymore. You can look at every player, he's not connecting with not one player."

In the wake of his remarks regarding Walton, LaVar has drawn a good deal of criticism, including from NBA legend Reggie Miller, who told the Dan Patrick Show on Tuesday that Lakers GM Magic Johnson should step up to LaVar and threaten to trade Lonzo if the father doesn't tone it down.

"This is a chance for Magic Johnson to absolutely put his foot down and put an end to this," Miller said. "He could really destroy LaVar if he really wanted to. I would go close to almost threatening, 'If you keep opening your mouth ... we are going to trade your son from the Lakers.'

"I hope (LaVar is) enjoying his European vacation, and his sons are enjoying playing over in Lithuania, because those two, in my opinion, have no shot at playing in the NBA."

Vytautas' next game is Saturday night in a Lithuanian league contest at Lietkabelis that counts in the standings. That said, it's unclear how much playing time LiAngelo and LaMelo will receive.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

LaVar Ball launches league for players to skip college

LOS ANGELES -- Controversial NBA dad LaVar Ball told ESPN on Wednesday that he is starting a basketball league for high school graduates who don't want to attend college before launching an NBA career.

Ball says his Junior Basketball Association will be fully funded by his Big Baller Brand and seeks 80 players to fill 10 teams he hopes will play at NBA arenas in Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta and New York.

"Getting these players is going to be easy," Ball told ESPN. "This is giving guys a chance to get a jump start on their career, to be seen by pro scouts and we're going to pay them because someone has got to pay these kids."

NBA rules say a player must wait one year after their high school class graduates before they can be taken in NBA draft, which has led to many top players going to college for only a single season before making the most to the NBA.

While colleges make millions of dollars from basketball television rights, players receive only tuition and scholarships from colleges under National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules.

Ball says his league's top player would make $10,000 a month and his lowest-ranked player would make $3,000 a month while displaying their skills for NBA scouts.

"Kids who are one-and-done, they shouldn't be there with the NCAA trying to hold them hostage, not allowing them to keep the jersey they wear while selling replicas of them in stores," Ball said. "So our guy isn't going to go to Florida State for a year. He's going to come to our league."

Ball says the league's logo is his son, Los Angeles Lakers guard Lonzo Ball, who played one year at the University of California, Los Angeles, going to the hoop for a dunk.

The league will not include LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball, who have signed with a Lithuanian club.

Players will wear uniforms and shoes with the Big Baller Brand.

source: news.abs-cbn.com