The youngest of the three Ball brothers, LaMelo Ball joined the NBA in 2020, as the third overall pick. While he has set up the league alight and recently signed a $205,9000,000 contract with the Charlotte Hornets, the 22-year-old might have never made the league, according to his father LaVar Ball. Speaking to Vlad TV recently, LaVar revealed that the NBA had effectively claimed they would not draft him if he dropped out of high school. LaVar claimed that this meant Melo had to return to high school despite having already made pro in Lithuania, in order to be selected in the 2020 NBA draft.
Advertisement
All three of the Ball brothers, including Lonzo and LiAngelo, ended up playing in the NBA just like their father envisaged. LaVar played a huge role in his sons’ development as professional ballers. Their most outspoken supporter around, LaVar played an important role in all three of his sons’ careers and continues to do so. However, if the NBA had its way, LaMelo might never have played in the league due to his decision to go overseas.
LaMelo Ball had no choice but to return to high school
LaMelo played under former NBA star Jermaine Jackson at the Spire Institute after his return from overseas. He had left after two years at the Chino Hills High School to play for Prenei in Lithuania.
While LaMelo wanted to return to high school, he ended up joining the Spire Institute to play under former NBA star Jermaine Jackson, which was a preparatory school. Regardless, according to his father, LaMelo did not even have a choice. The NBA had suggested that they would not select him for the draft if he became a high school dropout:
“Melo did something you are never going to be able to do again. Go to high school, go overseas and then come back to high school. Let me tell you the narrative on Melo. This is probably not even out before. Melo has to go back to high school for two reasons. He want to go back to high school, but also the narrative was that, ‘we are not going to pick Melo in the NBA, if you got him out of high school. Then the narrative looks like okay, he was a dropout and we drafted him. We ain’t no drafting any dropouts. “
While LaVar said that Melo wanted to return to high school, he still joined a preparatory school in Spire that cast further doubt on his eligibility for the draft. He was not considered for the McDonald’s All-American game despite being considered one of the best prospects in his class. This led to another professional stint with the Illawarra Hawks in Australia’s NBL.
Of course, things eventually worked out, and LaMelo ended up joining the NBA after playing just one game of college basketball. The number 3 pick of the 2020 draft, Melo, has been utterly impressive in his first couple of years and won his first All-Star appearance in 2022.
LaVar Ball did not want his son to rejoin High School
LaVar Ball revealed that he had no intention of letting Melo return to high school. This was because he was already “killing grown-a** men” overseas. LaVar had previously revealed to USA Today that he was initially heartbroken after Melo told him he wanted to rejoin high school.
The teenager wanted to be among his peers instead of continuing to be homeschooled, while his father thought that he would not get better playing against kids his age. Regardless, the NBA’s pressure meant that neither of them had any choice in the matter.
At the same time, LaVar revealed how Melo was still not allowed to play in the McDonald’s All-Star game. This was because he was already considered a pro due to his success in Lithuania. LaVar hilariously claimed that his reaction was terming the All-Star game as the “Jack-in-the-box” game instead.
