LaMelo Ball is one of the most talked about high school basketball prospects in the 2019 class. The youngest Ball brother had a successful senior season at SPIRE Academy in Ohio, but his father Lavar Ball said that his son would be spending the 2019-20 season in either Australia or China.
Ball’s decision to play overseas may not be by choice, but by circumstance. He and older brother LiAngelo Ball played professionally in Lithuania during his junior season of high school, but that is not what is harming his eligibility. Ball had his own signature shoe released before he started playing in Europe, which is the reason why he may not be able to play college basketball.
He was not invited to the McDonald’s All-American Game because of concerns over his eligibility, and there would be plenty of hurdles before he would be cleared to play by the NCAA.
However, Nick Young is firmly in Melo’s corner, and Swaggy P wants Ball to play college basketball next season and compared him to Naismith winner Zion Williamson.
NCAA mess up by not letting melo Ball play next next yr … you gotta keep this wave going college basketball was really dope this yr bcuz Zion and duke and the kid from Murray State .. You need someone ppl wanna see and the fan love Melo
— Nick Young (@NickSwagyPYoung) April 7, 2019
Young believes that people will want to watch Ball play college basketball as the youngest Ball brother is one of the most entertaining players in high school thanks to his unlimited range and flashy handles. His comparison to Williamson is due to the fact that both players will draw huge crowds to any games that they played. While the Naismith winner was a walking highlight reel, Williamson played for one of the notable college basketball programs in the country in Duke.
Ball is a potential top-10 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, but his stock could take a hit because of him not playing against top-tier competition. Young is one of many people in America who wants to see Ball play college basketball, but they will have to wait until 2020 for him to return to the United States, it appears.
