[jwplayer jdCasJVJ]
Last week, questions began circulating about LaMelo Ball’s future with the Illawarra Hawks. Starting with a fairly innocuous statement made during a TV show, the reports swirled about whether Ball would stay with a struggling Illawarra side even through Christmas.
While the reports never had any true legs, Hawks head coach Matt Flinn was forced to address the matter in his post-game press conference after Saturday’s win over Cairns.
“As far as I’m concerned, he’s contracted for the season. He’s buying in like every other player we’ve got. I hear speculation but we just treat it day by day. You saw a guy tonight who’s really invested in his team. If you go down and sit in the locker room, you’ll see a kid who is really invested in his teammates. I can’t really comment on that.”
The belief is that, with the Hawks struggling mightily this season and Ball’s draft status set in stone, the risk of an injury could outweigh the benefits of hanging around in Australia for the rest of a lost season. Ball has drawn plenty of praise from DraftExpress in his short time in the National Basketball League.
The counter-argument would be that Ball is still growing as a player and, while his draft status may be more certain, he’s still a player learning while on the court. Ball started slow this regular season but has come on in recent contests, highlighted by his best outing of the season against the Taipans.
Even more, the perception of Ball would take another big hit if he bailed on the first true professional league he’s played in and the first true team environment he’s been apart of. While all the reports of Ball have been glowing, like in the quote above, having him leave halfway through the season would certainly be a public relations hit.
In the end, it’d be surprising if Ball left Illawarra prior to the end of the season. While the season has been a rough one for the team, Ball has been nothing but committed to the Hawsk the season from the outside looking in.
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