In joining the National Basketball League (NBL) in Australia last season, LaMelo Ball blazed down a path that few before him had traveled. While others may have taken his route through the NBL and into the NBA, none as highly-rated a prospect or as popular as Ball had ever chosen the league’s Next Stars program.
Ball’s unique upbringing as a basketball prospect with his infamous stop in Lithuania meant, though, that he was uniquely qualified to handle the rigors of playing halfway across the world in a completely different league. That previous experience not only simplified his experience in Australia but simplified his decision to join the NBL as well.
In an interview with GQ Australia, Ball discussed choosing the NBL.
“Australia was an easy decision. Most players wouldn’t really do that – they wouldn’t want to leave friends and family – but I’d already been through all that.”
While the choice itself may have been easy, the options were actually fairly limited for Ball. By the end of his deliberation, only the NBL and the Chinese Basketball Association existed as realistic landing spots for the youngest member of the Ball family.
For all the cons of Ball not taking a traditional path through the amateur basketball scene, one of the pros meant he is more adept than most at playing against adults in a professional basketball landscape. That should translate to the NBA for Ball as he’s familiar with focusing on basketball solely and adjusting to the rigors of traveling to games and the tolls that can take on a body.
It may not lead directly to success on the court but it’ll be an interesting case study in whether Ball’s path is a viable one for future prospects.
