Here’s What We Know About LaMelo And LiAngelo Ball’s New European Team


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LaMelo and LiAngelo Ball are headed to Lithuania. After reports began circulating that the youngest Ball brothers were in serious discussions with Prienu Vytautas, the word of their actual signing came down from The Vertical’s Shams Charania.

The report was confirmed by ESPN’s Jeff Goodman, who spoke to their agent.


Per Charania, the two will report to the team next month, which means LaVar will join them in Lithuania along with other family members to help them get settled. The team released a statement about the signing.

While the Ball boys prepare to head overseas, it’s worth taking a look at the club they will be joining. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Jonathan Givony provided an overview of the team that wasn’t exactly a glowing review.

Prienu Vytautas, or BC Prienai as it’s often called, is a low-level club from a small, non-English speaking village of roughly 10,000 people in southern Lithuania. The team has been grappling with financial issues, and started the season losing eight of its first 12 games in the Lithuanian league.

The team has no general manager and doesn’t practice regularly due to the poor financial situation.

However, some of those claims were dispute by Simonas Baranauskas, a freelance writer from Lithuania covering FIBA hoops. Baranauskas did explain it was a small team run by one man and on a small budget, but said that calling it a “poor financial situation” was overblown.

In any case, the reviews from a few American players that played in Lithuania, including one that played for Vytautas’ coach, were not encouraging for the experience LaMelo and LiAngelo will have.

The best part is the coach has been described to Givony as the “LaVar Ball of Lithuania,” which bodes very well for the entertainment value of this signing.

This will certainly be an interesting dynamic, but the alleged deal doesn’t call for the Ball boys to play much in the upper Lithuanian league. Instead, they’ll get reps in a lower Baltic league where they could see 20 to 25 minutes per night, per ESPN.

Even so, the language barrier might not be the biggest stumbling block for the Balls in getting on the floor. Both LiAngelo and LaMelo are unrepentant volume shooters, who launch deep shots at will and with no remorse.

That is a far cry from the European style of basketball and there could be some serious culture shock on the court from both sides early on. LaMelo is well known for hoisting deep threes, but LiAngelo isn’t shy about chucking either, having taken 14 three-pointers a game while in high school. As ESPN’s Mike Schmitz put it, their mentality doesn’t fit.

The transition of the Ball family to Lithuania will be fascinating, and how the rest of the team and league accepts them will be something worth watching as they bring a very different style with them. That said, according to Goodman, this team might be the exception to the rule over there and be a good fit for the Balls’ style.

That could be spin, we know Goodman is well sourced in the Ball family, but maybe it’s true. In any case, this will be interesting to watch and I’m sure LaVar will make sure we see it all, good and bad, on their Facebook reality show.