For many, LaMelo Ball’s story from Chino Hills to present day is most highlighted by his bizarre detour to Lithuania. The move was largely a negative one that stemmed from LaVar Ball’s disagreements with a new head coach at Chino Hills, resulting in the father pulling his son out of school and sending him and LiAngelo across the globe.
The end result was the family leaving the franchise in disarray as they abruptly exited while simultaneously declaring it a successful trip. For a teenage LaMelo, it was an eye-opening experience as his first foray into professional basketball.
In Tim Keown’s piece for ESPN on Thursday ahead of the draft lottery, he spoke with Ball about his time in Lithuania.
“Whenever you say ‘Lithuania,’ I just be thinking about the hotel that was in the middle of nowhere, And the snow. Cold gyms. Always just cold. We knew what we were there for. My dad told me, ‘This is one of the sacrifices you got to make.’ Leaving your friends. Leaving everything, you know? It got me in this position, so I can’t say nothing wrong, I guess.”
Jokes of the cold aside, Ball also discussed how his mentality changed after his time across the globe in Lithuania in a complementary video with the ESPN piece.
“With Lithuania, I learned a lot over there. Like, you don’t really need nobody. As soon as you’re good with yourself, it don’t really matter what nobody else say. People’s opinions are not going to affect me.”
While Ball learned from his time in Lithuania, that doesn’t mean it was a successful experiment. If anything, Ball still finds himself as one of the top prospects in this year’s draft in spite of that experience. But it was still part of an experience that got him to where he is today, for better or worse, and that Ball was able to take lessons from it and improve shows his character even at a young age.
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