The Ball family is headed to Lithuania shortly after the new year so LiAngelo and LaMelo can begin their professional basketball careers. The two brothers signed with the Lithuanian club Vytautas in Preinai, a town of around 9,000 people, which will be a far cry from their Los Angeles home.
That said, the people of Lithuania seem ready to welcome the Balls and, by proxy, show the world that will be watching what their country has to offer. Raptors center and Lithuanian native Jonas Valanciunas recently offered the Ball family his support in their move and hoped, most of all, that they enjoyed their time in the beautiful country.
There has been plenty of intrigue about how the Ball boys will fit in the European style of ball, which is warranted because they are well-known gunners and that tends to be frowned upon in European hoops. However, a great deal of attention is being paid to how they (and LaVar) will handle their new coach Virginijus Seskus, especially after a former player relayed an anecdote about him selling meat out of the trunk of his care, which of course went viral.
Andrew Keh of the New York Times traveled to Preinai to talk with people about the impending arrival of the Ball family, including their soon-to-be head coach. Naturally, the topic of his meat sales came up and he was happy to explain how that story got exaggerated and what really happened.
“I can tell you about the meat,” Seskus said on Saturday, eager to clear up the apparent confusion.
The truth, he said, was this: There is a store in Prienai that produces particularly delicious traditional meat products, such as lasiniai, or smoked pork fat. When he was coaching in Vilnius, where Baron played, one of the players often requested that he pick some up for him.
“That guy would ask me, ‘Coach, please, bring some meat,’” Seskus said. “And if someone asks me, I’ll do anything. My wife tells me, ‘Please, be half as good to your family as you are to others.’ But of course, they would pay me for the meat, because I brought it for them.”
That’s not nearly as interesting or funny of a story, but makes far more sense than the coach peddling various meat products out of his trunk. In any case, the picture Keh paints in his profile of the team and the town is of a place ready to welcome the Ball family and excited about the prospects of having some added attention.
