LiAngelo Ball and LaMelo Ball have been shopped and are being shopped all over the world as a package deal. But not all corners of the Earth are keen to host LaVar Ball’s kids before they take their respective shots at the NBA. Europe, for one, seems ready to pass on the Big Baller Brand’s youngest ambassadors.
“I don’t see LiAngelo or LaMelo playing on a real competitive team that wants to win,” Nicola Alberani, the general manager of Scandone Avellino in Italy’s Serie A league, told Bleacher Report’s David Pick. “In Europe, we have to win; this isn’t entertainment basketball.”
It’s also an expensive and risky proposition for a club across the Atlantic Ocean to take on Americans like Gelo and Melo. Per Alberani, it costs €13,500 to register an American for the top division in Italy, €11,000 for the second division and €9,000 in the third. That cost is fixed, regardless of how many games they end up playing.
“We only have eight visas for the season,” Alberani said, “so it’s impossible for any team to waste that on the Ball kids.”
Romeo Travis, who’s bounced around Europe since playing high-school ball with LeBron James, recommended that Gelo, in particular, target “smaller domestic leagues. . .where they expect the Americans to shoot early and often, so he can get a better feel for the game.”
All told, though, Europe’s intense focus on wins and wins alone won’t serve Lonzo Ball’s brothers well, says Errick McCollum, the older brother of Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum and former EuroCup MVP in his own right.
“Best player development teams would be in the U.S., because in Europe there is so much pressure on coaches to win,” McCollum said. “They don’t have time to risk trying to develop a young player like LiAngelo. They must win now or their job is in jeopardy.”
Now that the NCAA isn’t an option, finding the two youngest Ball boys a place to play in American may be the toughest of all—at least until each of them is eligible to try his luck in the NBA draft. At this point, LaMelo’s prospects in the Association appear to be far superior to LiAngelo’s in 2018, but the 16-year-old will have to wait until 2020 to make the leap.
