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Over the past year or so, LaVar Ball and the rest of his family have managed to become the Bitcoin of the world of basketball after his plan to turn the game on its head suffered a major setback when everyone else realized he was as full of shit as the Augean stables Hercules was forced to clean up.
Things appropriately started spiraling downward last fall after his middle son LiAngelo saw his dream of playing at UCLA derailed after he was arrested for shoplifting in China and withdrew from school. He and his younger brother LaMelo were subsequently exiled to Lithuania while their dad frantically scrambled to figure out a way to keep his master plan from crumbling in his hands.
Unfortunately for LiAngelo, NBA scouts don’t really care if you score over 70 points in a game when you’re playing against a team of small Lithuanian children. After launching up enough bricks to build a mansion during his underwhelming NBA workouts, Ball found himself without a home after this year’s draft and forced LaVar to come up with a Plan C (or whatever letter he’s on by now. I’ve honestly lost track).
The Lakers made it very clear that Ball wouldn’t be playing for their summer league squad but that wasn’t enough to discourage him from exploring other options— which did not include playing in the JBA, the developmental league LaVar recently launched to close to no fanfare (or fans, for that matter).
However, it appears LiAngelo has finally come to terms with the fact that he might just not be that good at basketball. On Monday, the JBA announced Ball had officially joined the league, where he will now technically be able to say he is playing professional basketball in Los Angeles.
https://twitter.com/bbbjbaleague/status/1016336208337821696
Make sure to grab some laughably overpriced tickets before it’s too late.