LaVar Ball’s crazy genius knows no bounds, and on Monday, the father of Los Angeles Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball made yet another bold move that could either pay off huge or cost his youngest son a shot at the NBA.
LaVar Ball just pulled LaMelo Ball out of high school
He says differences with the coach of LaMelo’s high school team is the reason why
Photo by Sean M. Haffey/BIG3/Getty Images
LaVar pulled LaMelo Ball from Chino Hills High School during his junior year, according to the Los Angeles Times’ Eric Sondheimer. Instead of enrolling LaMelo into a traditional high school, LaVar will home school and train him for the next two years. Then, they will make the decision whether college — UCLA — is the path the youngest Ball will take.
Why is he doing this?
LaVar has notoriously butt heads with the coaching at Chino Hills, and according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, that’s the reason he’s pulling LaMelo out of high school.
“I’m not dealing with the coach over there,” Ball said, via Shelburne. “I’m not dealing with the administration over there. I don’t want no distractions on Melo. So therefore I’m going to home school him and make him the best basketball player ever.
“It’s a new coach and I don’t like him one bit. He’s on track for UCLA, but he doesn’t have to be dealing with those knuckleheads. I’m not letting them mess with his head anymore. You can put that on the principal and the coach over there. That coach has his own frame of mind on how he wants to play and who he picks in the team. OK, y’all got all that going on, let’s see how you do without my tutelage. Without me training those players at my house. It seems like anyone who’s training over there that coach don’t want him in the team.”
You don’t need to graduate from high school, per se, in order to be NBA Draft eligible. A prospect only needs to be 19 years old and one year removed from the graduation date of his high school class.
That’s all the green light LaVar needs after already butting heads with the coaches at Chino Hills in the past. Regardless of whether LaMelo successfully completes his high school graduation requirement, he’ll only need to wait one year before entering his name into the 2020 NBA Draft.
Why this could be a bad idea
Chino Hills was the fourth-ranked team in the nation and No. 2 team in California last season when LaMelo and his brother, LiAngelo, led them to a 30-3 record last season. That’s a level of national exposure the youngest Ball will miss sitting out two seasons while other top prospects, like Zion Williamson and R.J. Barrett, soak up the sunlight left by LaMelo’s exit from the high school hoops scene.
Pulling LaMelo will also rob him of organized competition, but it’s a safe bet LaVar has something up his sleeve to keep his son in game shape.
Could this be a good idea?
That depends. Who does LaVar bring in to train LaMelo? Does he teach him himself or hire an at-home teacher? Who does LaMelo play against if he’s not on a high school team? How will the NBA view a prospect who never completed high school but isn’t an international player?
LaVar’s latest move — like almost each of his past ones — leaves more questions than answers. But if there’s anything we know, it’s that once LaVar starts talking, he isn’t about to stop.
What’s his report card going to look like?
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