This feels like a publicity stunt. Whatever the under/over is on how long it will last, bet the under.
That said, the two younger brothers of Lonzo Ball — LiAngelo, 18, and LaMelo, 16 — have reached a deal to play for a team in the highest level of the Lithuanian league. The story was broken by Adrian Wojnarowski and Jonathan Givony of ESPN (before the signing became official).LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball are in serious discussions to sign professional basketball contracts with Lithuanian club Prienu Vytautas, sources told ESPN.
The club plans to decide in the next 24-to-48 hours whether to finalize agreements with the two American teenagers, sources told ESPN.
If signed, the franchise has hopes that the Balls - including their father LaVar -- could be a marketing boon for the fledgling franchise, sources told ESPN.
Shams Charania of The Vertical at Yahoo Sports reports the deal is done.
Sources: LaMelo and LiAngelo Ball have turned pro, signing one-year contracts with first division Lithuanian team Vytautas. They will report to the club in early January.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 11, 2017
Lithuania is a hoops-mad Baltic country of an estimated 2.9 million people who has three players currently in the NBA — Jonas Valanciunas, Donatas Motiejunas, and Mindaugas Kuzminskas — and has put 11 players in the league total, including Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Arvydas Sabonis, and Sarunas Marciulionis. You might remember the Lithuanian National Team wearing Grateful Dead inspired uniforms and taking the bronze medal in the 1992, 1996, and 2000 Olympics.
This is a country that takes its basketball seriously, and the Balls are a traveling circus and reality show. The Lithuanian league doesn’t have NBA-level players, but they guys they suit up have a real feel for the game and play a disciplined style. This could be a real culture clash, the kind of thing that ends quickly and spectacularly poorly. Here is some insight into the team from FIBA’s Lithuanian hoops writer.
A little insight to Vytautas: a one-man club in the shape of coach Virginijus Šeškus, who has guided the small-town team to considerable heights in Lithuania. The last couple of years have been a bit of a squeeze financially but they've never operated w/ a lot of money. https://t.co/Ye24GindnF
— Simonas Baranauskas (@simasbar) December 11, 2017
They are known for playing free-spirited, free-flowing basketball w/ a lot of three-pointers. Šeškus is known as a big personality and quite a hot-head on the sidelines. He even walked his team off in the Baltic Basketball League game this season, as he was unsatisfied with refs.
— Simonas Baranauskas (@simasbar) December 11, 2017
Since earning promotion from second-division NKL, the Prienai club haswon medals twice in the LKL and lifted the Lithuanian Cup twice as well. One of the cup triumphs was in a year where the top clubs did not play, but the other one featured upsets over both Žalgiris and Rytas.
— Simonas Baranauskas (@simasbar) December 11, 2017
I probably forgot the most important detail of all, the team's coach doesn't speak English. I'll be honest with you, all of this is incredibly ridiculous. On the other hand, also would be ridiculously fun to see it happen. 😂
— Simonas Baranauskas (@simasbar) December 11, 2017
Don’t expect the Ball children to play much, especially not at first.
The pay at this level is reportedly north of $1,500 a month, but that could be higher if the brothers are seen as a draw. With the report of the tight financial squeeze, this is likely a gambit on the coach’s part to boost revenue (in Europe, coaches are the CEOs of the organization, much more akin to the power top college coaches have than an NBA coach).
This is a league where men play and the game is taken seriously, it has produced not only Lithuanian players but Boston Celtics center Aron Baynes played there. This team apparently does not run the (suprisingly standard in Europe) two-a-day practices on non-game days, but their practices are longer and harder than most American versions. There are a lot of quality players — former American college/D-League guys, as well as good Europeans — who would love a shot like this. Who deserve a chance like this. If the younger Ball children do not perform and do not take this seriously, it will turn on them quickly.
LiAngelo Ball had gone to UCLA to play basketball this season, but after being suspended for shoplifting in China, his father LaVar pulled him out of college, designed a “Gelo 3" signature shoe for his son from the Big Baller Brand, and started looking for a professional contract. I’m not sure LiAngelo belongs at this level. As one scout told me last summer, LiAngelo was only at UCLA because Lonzo was a top recruit and LaMelo had a lot of potential. That scout wasn’t sure LiAngelo could stick in Europe.
LaMelo is a generally highly-rated recruit with NBA potential, a guy with crazy shooting range for a high-school Junior and good handles, but scouts had a lot of questions about his defense and most of his game outside of just shooting. LaMelo put up 70 points in an AAU game, but he cherry-picked the entire time, and the sense is there is a lot of that in his game. His father LaVar pulled LaMelo out of Chino Hills High School this season after a new basketball coach said he was going to push his guys to play within a system on both ends. How well LaMelo adapts to a very different culture on and off the court at his age is a big question.
Maybe this works out. Maybe the Ball children are more mature in personality and game than I think, maybe this is the financial boost that Prienu Vytautas needs and it works for them. It’s possible. I just don’t expect it.
