LaMelo Ball has been pulled out of Chino Hills High School, and his father has blasted the administration at the school. It is not appropriate for Lavar Ball to be rude to the staff of the school, and it is not helping the Big Baller brand. However, he has the right to homeschool the boy, planning to send him to an international league next year, and let him get drafted the year after. LaMelo would not be the first person to circumvent the NCAA by playing in Europe, but the NBA insiders who draft people like LaMelo Ball are probably not very happy with this development.
The NBA likes order
The NBA has rules for how players are supposed to enter the league. The executives of the league want to see the players in college for a year so that they can make proper decisions before the draft. They want to make basic comparisons between players, and they want all of that to be on TV where everyone can watch. The NBA does not like it when players go to Europe or go around the established system.
The Balls are non-traditional in every way
The Ball family is willing to buck the trend to do what they believe is right for their family, and none of us can blame them for that. I am not a fan of Lavar Ball, but he does have a right to homeschool his kid. The problem is that he is probably doing this to be different.
He wanted to get back into the headlines, and he wanted to use his incredible media following to make himself look like the victim.
How good is he?
We really need to see LaMelo Ball play in the NCAA to find out how good he is compared to his brothers. The Ball family seems to love UCLA, and it would be surprising to see LaMelo Ball go around the college route just because he specifically needs to play in Europe.
Why would he play in Europe but not his brothers? This is a publicity stunt that has clearly worked because we are writing and talking about it.
Can the Ball family stay out of the news?
The Ball family has to stay in the news if they want to remain relevant, and they need to keep finding something that makes them relevant even if they are not doing anything of significance.
We all thought that Lonzo Ball playing for the Lakers would be enough, but it appears that Lavar Ball wants as much media attention as he can get. He can sell more shoes and clothes if we are talking about him, and he can show that he has a magic formula that will get kids to the NBA. If we know anything, we know that his summer team will be very full and kids will flock to him.
