A couple months ago, LaVar Ball announced that he was launching his own basketball league called the Junior Basketball Association (JBA) that would be an alternative to college. The difference between NCAA and JBA is that in the JBA, the players would get paid. Episode two of season three shows how LaVar is forming the teams for the different cities for the JBA. This episode also features BC Vytautas in London to play a game and LaVar reveals his decision for Melo regarding his basketball future. The show is screened on the Ball in the Family on Facebook Watch
The episode 2 synopsis on the show for season 3 read: "Melo reveals that he wants to play for the JBA, however, LaVar is unsure it is the right path for him."
"Gelo & Izzy try to lift his spirits by taking him out, but the plan backfires and the brothers get into an argument.
Meanwhile, LaVar feels fortunate that the JBA can provide talented kids a second chance after coming face to face with the stories of their hardships."
LaVar and the boys in London
Melo and Gelo's team BC Vytautas headed over to London to play an exhibition game against the London Lions organized by Big Baller Brand. Inside the stadium, Big Baller Brand had a pop-up shop and sold BBB merchandise of hats, shirts, sweaters and other BBB apparel.
As the game was organized by Big Baller Brand, LaVar was the head coach of the game for BC Vytautas. With LaVar being the head coach, this obviously meant a lot of playing time for Melo and Gelo. BC Vytautas won the game 127-110 with Melo putting up a triple-double with 39 points, 16 rebounds and 16 assists and Gelo put up a stat line of 44 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
Forming teams for JBA
With the boys in London playing for BC Vytautas who are from Lithuania, LaVar heads back to the United States to start scouting for the JBA. The first city he scouts for the JBA is Seattle. The tryout went well according to LaVar as four payers were selected straight out of the tryout and four players are going to be selected at a later date to fill out the Seattle JBA roster.
He then heads over to Los Angeles to scout for the JBA. The Los Angeles tryout was better than the Seattle one as there were more kids at the tryout. Unlike Seattle where four players were selected straight out of the tryout, in Los Angeles, eight players were selected from the tryout which ultimately formed the Los Angeles JBA team.
Melo's future career
Melo and LaVar have been unhappy in Lithuania which has been easily seen in the show. It was pretty clear that Melo wouldn't be returning to play for BC Vytautas next year which left him with nothing to do in the future. He is no longer in school as his dad pulled him out back in October.
Melo has stated before that he wants to play in the JBA as he would be able to play closer to home and that the JBA would be more his style of play. His dad wasn't sure if that was the right path for him as if he were to play in the JBA, he wouldn't be playing against grown men. His dad decided that he would grant Melo's wishes and allow him to play in the JBA while also telling him that he will have to be the face of the league.
Next episode
After all the "Ball in the Family" episodes, they show a preview of what's going to be in the next episode. In episode three, which will air next Sunday on Facebook Watch, Izzy and Gelo talk about their relationship as Izzy has been looking at colleges to go to. Lonzo takes Denise to San Diego for her birthday and gets her a diaper bag as a gift which will be useful when their child is born.
