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LaMelo Ball‘s high school basketball career has come to an abrupt end. According to a report by Eric Sondheimer of The Los Angeles Times, Ball will not attend Chino Hill High School — where his two older brothers, Lonzo and LiAngelo, were also standout ball players — for his final two years as a high schooler. This is because his father, LaVar, wants to homeschool him instead.
Stunning news: LaVar Ball said he is pulling junior LaMelo from Chino Hills and will home-school him the next two years and train him.
— eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) October 2, 2017
LaMelo is currently the No. 17 high school basketball player in the class of 2019 and a five-star prospect, according to his 247Sports Composite rating. It’s definitely not impossible for a player to be a highly-regarded recruit while getting homeschooled — former North Carolina star and 2017 Sacramento Kings first-round draft pick Justin Jackson was the ninth-best player in his class as a high schooler.
But the thing that makes this so interesting is it sounds like the youngest member of the Ball family is going to eschew competitive high school basketball all together. Of course, he currently suits up for Big Baller AAU, which is coached by his father.
As LaVar told Sondheimer, he plans on doing this with the hopes of molding his son into the “best basketball player ever.”
LaVar had already been having concerns about Chino Hills’ new coach, Dennis Latimore.
“It’s good for Melo,” LaVar said. “Less distractions. He just needs to focus.”
The next time people will be able to see LaMelo play is next spring in travel ball.
“They’ll have to sit back and wait,” LaVar said.
As for the youngest Ball’s, uh, post-AAU career, he still plans on attending UCLA when he’s able to make the jump to college hoops. Between the fact that he has his own signature shoe, the controversy that stemmed from his appearance on WWE Raw, his approach to high school basketball, LaMelo Ball is definitely atop the list of the most unique high school basketball players we’ve ever seen.
(Via The Los Angeles Times)