LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball have both signed with an agent, and have lost all eligibilty to play in college, according to ESPN.
ESPN reported the following:
LaVar Ball told ESPN that his sons LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball have signed with agent Harrison Gaines, ending any speculation that LaMelo will play college basketball. The plan is now for both to play on the same team overseas.
“I don’t care about the money,” LaVar Ball said on Thursday morning. “I want them to go somewhere where they will play them together on the court at the same time. The priority is for the boys to play on the same team.”
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Gaines also represents the oldest of the Ball brothers, Los Angeles Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball. LaVar Ball said Gaines has been dealing with various overseas clubs about LiAngelo and LaMelo.
Am I a genius or am I a genius? I floated this idea over two months ago when literally nobody was talking about it. Nobody in the national media was suggesting these young men head to Europe or Asia. I wrote that LaMelo should absolutely cut and run to Europe in order to play basketball.
I wrote the following about LaMelo in the start of October:
There are plenty of teams in Europe that would love to have the 16-year-old prodigy on their roster. He’s easily a $150,000 to $200,000 a year player in Europe. Not necessarily because of his talent, but because he would bring such a large media presence with him. His older brother is already a major name in the NBA, his dad is on TV all the time and his other brother is at UCLA as a freshman. The Ball family has tons of name recognition, which would result in a higher salary in Europe.
Europe would provide a much higher level of competition than UCLA or anywhere in the United States, other than the NBA. Crossing the ocean is his best option if his goal is to be an NBA star someday. He’ll get better training, he’ll make decent money and he’ll be way more prepared for the NBA game when he finally shows up.
The writing on the wall wasn’t terribly hard to see. LaMelo is by far the better player, and wanting LiAngelo on the team with him will limit options significantly. However, there are several lower-tier European clubs that will absolutely take them both. LaMelo could play at a relatively high level in Europe if he leaves his brother out of the equation.
The Big Baller Brand saga just keeps getting more and more interesting by the day.