While Lonzo and LaMelo Ball have proven to be NBA-caliber players, LiAngelo Ball has been far off the mark for much of his amateur and professional career. The middle of the Ball brothers, LiAngelo has a vastly different skill set than either of his brothers.
While both Lonzo and LaMelo excel with the ball in their hands as playmaking guards, LiAngelo has been more of a spot-up shooter that, actually, complements his brother’s skillsets.
LiAngelo, though, has never been a particularly efficient shooter and, as a result, has struggled to find a steady professional career. His incident in China added a black cloud over his career and held him back even further.
However, he’s finally broken through in recent months, first joining Oklahoma City’s G League affiliate as a practice player before being extended and signing a G League contract with the OKC Blue.
During an interview with Forbes, LaVar talked about LiAngelo signing with a G League team and how big of an accomplishment that was.
“It wasn’t a big deal because here’s the thing; all my boys are going to go pro. So Gelo went a different direction, that means he has to take a different route. But they all cut from the same cloth. If Gelo didn’t do what he did, he would have been a lottery pick too. It’s not like I’m going to have two boys living in my house saying, ‘Oh nah I’m not going to work out like that.'”
LiAngelo was nowhere nears a lottery-level talent and LaVar claiming so also discredits the hard work LiAngelo put into getting into the G League. To go from practice player to earning a contract is no small feat. Saying it’s not a big deal because he’s a lottery talent diminishes that.
