Many years ago, LaMelo Ball was often spotted courtside at Staples Center while his father, LaVar, was supporting his brother Lonzo. In many ways, it was LaMelo’s first exposure to the NBA. LaMelo has mentioned how those experiences and his brother being in the NBA before him served to prepare him for the day he joined the league.
One of Lonzo’s teammates back then, Kyle Kuzma, has long taken notice of LaMelo. Most recently, Kuzma tweeted about LaMelo and Lonzo during the former’s big night against the Raptors. Given his familiarity with the family, Kuzma has not been taken aback by how quickly the rookie has adapted to the league.
“(I’m) not really (surprised),” Kuzma said of LaMelo. “He’s been playing basketball with older people his entire life. Going back to him being a fifth-, sixth-grader playing up (against) 17 (year olds) and then playing in Lithuania and then playing in the NBL in Australia with grown men. When you’re playing basketball with a higher level of people, your game is going to be much more mature. It’s not really shocking to me.
“His brother’s in the NBA, so you’re going to pick up a lot,” he continued. “Especially when you’re the youngest brother, the youngest in the family. You’re going to pick up on things and see things. Being around this game and being in Australia, for him, helped his game out a lot and really sped up his process of understanding the game. You just see how well he’s playing this year.”
LaMelo has talked in the past about the advantages of playing up age groups through his career and how that prepared him. He reiterated that point while speaking to the media on Tuesday ahead of his return to Los Angeles when discussing how he developed his elite court vision.
“I probably say just growing up,” Ball said, “having my pops having me play up (an age group). You got to see stuff at a young age. I guess I just always seen passing lanes…at a young age.”
Kuzma’s relationship with the Ball family isn’t quite as close-knit as it once was, including an exchange that looked quite icy with Lonzo last season, but the Laker forward clearly remains a fan of LaMelo.