Reigning ROTY LaMelo Ball compares how easy NBA travel life is when compared to living in shady Lithuania hotels and 20-hour bus rides.
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LaMelo Ball made the Charlotte Hornets relevant again when he was drafted last year. As a rookie, he led them in assists and earned himself a starting spot within a month.
He has shown immense improvement in his second year averaging 19.8 points, 8 assists, and 7.8 rebounds per game. He currently leads the Hornets in all three categories.
The team started the season on a high note with Miles Bridges stepping up as well. However, the Covid outbreak affected their momentum and they slipped down to 9th position in the east.
Unlike Lonzo Ball, who took some time to grow into the player he is now, LaMelo fit right in the second he entered the league. He lived up to all the pre-draft hype, a large part of which was playing overseas on multiple occasions.
One of those occasions was when LaVar Ball took him and LiAngelo Ball to Lithuania to play against grown men. And in a recent interview with Shams Charania, the Ball brother hilariously revealed what the most difficult part of the whole experience was for him.
According to LaMelo Ball NBA travel life is nothing compared to overseas travel life
LaMelo Ball’s route to the NBA is quite unconventional. LaVar pulled his sons out of Chino Hills high school and sent them to play pro basketball at an early age. Although Melo didn’t fit in, playing in Lithuania against grown men gave him the kind of experience that college players lack. From there he traveled everywhere and was in the Junior Basketball Association as well.
When college was completely out of the picture, he signed with Illawarra Hawks of Australia’s National Basketball League. After that, he enlisted for the 2020 draft and the rest is history.
In conversation with The Athletic’s Shams Charania, he spoke about the leadership position with the Hornets, growing up with his brothers, the travel life overseas among other things.
“Just being around the whole world, seeing everybody making life easy like just going from place to place. Here I don’t even feel like I’m traveling for real. The NBA travel life is way way easier. I mean overseas you’re taking 16-hour bus rides 20-hour bus rides it’s just crazy.”
“Lithuania.. it was cold out there it was cold as hell yeah. And all these hotels here are nice and cool back there it’s beds with small legs hanging off arms. It’s just a whole bunch of bad beat-down hotels you know.”
Clearly, a lot of players who complain about the hardships of traveling in the NBA don’t know what it’s like in Lithuania. Shams did point out how rare it is for young players to go overseas instead of NCAA to NBA route. LaMelo was grateful for the opportunity because it molded him into the player he is today.
