Back in December, LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball both signed contracts to play professional basketball for BC Vytautas in Preinai, Lithuania. Lots of excitement came from the Ball family as all their sons became professional basketball players. The Ball family went into Lithuania expecting this journey to be lots of fun, but it ended up not going as planned. Lavar announced that he is pulling his sons out of Lithuania due to injuries that his sons have and the disagreements he's having with the head coach even though there are two games left in the season.

With the Ball family heading back home, here's a look at the tenures of Melo, Gelo and LaVar in Lithuania. A report by The Star provided most of the information used in this article.

LaMelo

Believe it or not, Melo is only 16 years old. Back in October, his father pulled him out of high school, as he wanted Melo to focus strictly on basketball. With Melo signing the contract to become a professional basketball player, he is believed to be the youngest person to ever play basketball professionally. Melo signing a professional contract forced him to forego his eligibility to play college basketball for UCLA which he committed when he was 13.

Back in his hometown of Chino Hills, California, he was one of the best players, if not the best player for his age.

He is also considered as one of the top players in the country for his age group. In his two years at Chino Hills high school, he averaged 21.5 points. In Lithuania, playing against players older than he is, he averaged 6.5 points while averaging 12.4 minutes while only playing eight games. He also averaged 2.5 assists and 1.4 rebounds.

Melo dealt with some injuries in Lithuania as he had a lower back injury which even forced his father to list him as inactive for a game.

LiAngelo

When LiAngelo graduated high school in 2017, the plan was for him to be on the UCLA Bruins basketball team. Gelo didn't end up playing a single game for UCLA as when the team went to China, he was arrested for shoplifting.

Due to the incident, he was suspended for the rest of the year which his father disagreed with and decided to pull him out of UCLA.

With Gelo no longer at UCLA, he as well signed a professional contract to play for BC Vytautas along with his brother. His tenure in Lithuania went fine as he averaged 12.6 points in 14 games and averaged 21.2 minutes of playing time. At one point, he was the league leader in points per game. Like his brother, Gelo also dealt with injuries as he had a sprained ankle which he even played through.

LaVar

LaVar accompanied his sons in Lithuania by watching his sons from the stands. He was very displeased with the playing time his sons were getting as he is seen in his reality TV show "Ball in the Family" yelling and cursing at the coach.

With LaVar being the founder of Big Baller Brand he organized multiple tournaments that he sponsored with his company. When the team played games organized by his company, he got to be the head coach and run the team how he wanted to. With BC Vytautas playing in the LKL, he got the team to play more games by having other Lithuanian teams and international teams to play them. The team even went to London, England to play a game. While he was in Lithuania, he is seen having shouting matches and multiple disagreements with the coach. With the media, he talks about how he doesn't like the coach since he doesn't give his sons lots of playing time and that he couldn't trust the coach any longer.

Next steps for the Ball family

With the Ball family heading back home, Melo and Gelo will be starting different paths in their basketball careers. Gelo has already declared for the NBA draft and will be attending combines to showcase his talents to NBA executives as he hopes to get drafted by an NBA team when the draft comes in June.

Even though he pulled him out this year, there was speculation that Melo might return to BC Vytautas next year. Those speculations were put to rest though when LaVar announced that Melo would not return to Lithuania for next season. With Melo no longer in school, he will have to find a new team to play for next year. With him only being 16 years old, he is not eligible for the NBA draft until 2020.

He could play in LaVar's JBA (Junior Basketball Association) league or he could find another team overseas that he could play for. When they were looking for teams to play for back in December, the Balls were deciding between Lithuania, Japan, and Croatia so he could play for a team in Japan or Croatia next season.
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