LaMelo Ball is doing things that no 16-year-old basketball player has done before him.
After being the youngest player to ever receive his own signature sneaker, Big Baller Brand patriarch LaVar Ball made the decision to pull his youngest son from Chino Hills High School so he could focus solely on basketball.
Now, LaMelo is set to join his older brother LiAngelo for Lithuanian club Vytautas Prienai.
Their debut is set for Jan. 9.
Ahead of his professional debut, LaMelo sat down with ESPN to discuss the decision to withdraw from school. He is also ineligible for the NCAA after signing with an agent, so he is officially done with school.
What does the 16 year old think of that? Well, his answer was exactly what you’d expect from a young kid.
“Dream come true,” LaMelo said of being done with school.
When asked what he would say to those who believe you need education and that his father’s decision to pull him out of school was crazy, LaMelo downplayed the importance of education for those pursuing athletics.
“If you want to be a doctor or a scientist, I think you should go to school,” he said. “But for athletics, I don’t really think you need school.”
Check out the comments below:
[protected-iframe id=”a7ff5640f33fc7d9a376cb9bb683c165-112307288-6515840″ info=”http://www.espn.com/core/video/iframe?id=21994185&endcard=false” width=”640″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″]
LaMelo Ball is certainly taking an unorthodox path towards his ultimate goal of playing in the NBA, so it is going to be interesting to see how it all plays out and whether he will live up to his potential and one day play on the sport’s biggest stage.
Who knows, maybe he will eventually join his older brother Lonzo in Los Angeles.
Can’t get enough of Campus Sports? Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to stay updated with the latest news and exclusive giveaways!
