It looks like we won’t see two Ball brothers in the Los Angeles Lakers jersey next season after all. LiAngelo Ball, brother of Lakers’ point guard Lonzo Ball, went undrafted in the 2018 NBA Draft and it looks like he will have a hard time getting a look from NBA teams.
According to ESPN, the Lakers not only refused to spend a draft pick on the middle Ball brother, but they have also informed him that he will not be getting an invite for their Summer League team.
LiAngelo Ball, who spent a portion of the last season playing professional basketball in Lithuania, decided to enter the 2018 NBA Draft despite the fact that no one expected him to be drafted. He underwent two pre-draft workouts, with Lakers and Golden State Warriors, but reportedly failed to impress on either of them. Ball still hoped that he could get a chance to prove himself to the Lakers in the summer league.
According to the sources around the league, LiAngelo Ball won’t get an offer to play in the Summer League from any other NBA team after Lakers decided to pass on him. His other options will be to return to Europe or look for a spot on NBA G League team.
This won’t sit well with Lonzo and LiAngelo’s father LaVar Ball, who was vocal about his desire to have all of his three sons playing for the Los Angeles Lakers.
“I want all three boys to play for the Lakers.” – said LaVar recently. “But if that does not happen, I’m telling you the story what’s gonna happen first. If they don’t take Gelo this year, I bring Gelo back here (Vytautas Prienu) to play with Melo for two years. Lonzo will be on his third year and I want to let every NBA team know, that Lonzo is not going to re-sign with the Lakers but will go to any team that will take all three of my boys. That’s my plan.“
