It’s rare for a family to produce multiple high-level basketball prospects. LaVar Ball, for all the rightful criticisms that can and have been lobbed his way, is likely to become one of the few fathers to ever send multiple sons to the NBA with LaMelo Ball projected to be one of the top picks in the upcoming 2020 NBA Draft.
During a recent interview with Fox Sports Australia, Ball compared LaMelo and Lonzo as prospects.
“Definitely Melo’s better than Lonzo at this age, on the fact that the people that Melo (was) playing against at 16 were not the same people Lonzo was playing at 16, 17. I took Melo out of high school, so he’s not studying chemistry tests and social studies and all that. You’re practicing 24/7; all you’re doing is working on basketball… so you’re not playing regular high school guys, where Gelo and Zo played the high school route.
“That’s why Melo is so much better, because he’s got so much more experience, because I learned. This is a better road right here, if we do this. That’s why he’s prepared to come over here and be successful playing against grown men, because he already did that.”
It’s hard to compare the Ball brothers as prospects given the fact their paths have been remarkably different. Lonzo took a natural path to the league, playing four years of high school before attending UCLA for a season and declaring for the draft. He was a top-ranked high school prospect, given a rating of .9988 by 247Sports, and top-ranked college prospect entering the draft.
LaMelo’s path has been anything but ordinary. After just two seasons in high school, Ball was pulled out of Chino Hills and placed in a professional league in Lithuania. Trips back stateside with the Junior Basketball Association (JBA), overseas once more with the JBA Select Team and then stateside once more with SPIRE Institute. His last stop eventually landed him back on recruiting boards as he finished ranked 23rd wit ha rating of .9912 by 247Sports.
LaMelo’s upbringing on the basketball court is unlike any before him, making it near impossible to compare him to even his own brother. It’ll be interesting to see how he stacks up to his brother once he reaches the NBA.
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