GENEVA, Ohio — When LaMelo Ball announced he was returning to school for his senior year of high school, there were questions about what his next step would be.
Would he stay at Spire Institute for two years? Would he pursue a “select contract” from the G League next year? Could he return overseas for a year?
As it turns out, LaMelo’s preference is to go the traditional route of playing college basketball at a top-tier college. According to Ben Axelrod of WKYC, LaMelo wants to play for these NCAA Division I schools next fall:
Despite the fact that LaVar Ball marketed both LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball as professional basketball players, the family is now back tracking and saying that LaMelo never received a cent playing in Lithuania or the JBA, according to Jeff Borzello of ESPN.
“(Spire’s associate academy director Justin) Brantley told ESPN that Ball was not compensated and never received payment for playing in Lithuania or in the JBA, keeping him eligible to play this season.”
However, that doesn’t change the fact that he signed with an agent, making him ineligible to play college basketball. It’s for that same reason his offer from UCLA was withdrawn.
If he is somehow still eligible to play in the NCAA, like the Ball Family thinks he is, there are coaches that are skeptical of who would recruit him, according to Adam Zagoria of the New York Times.
LaMelo Ball will have a ton of ground to cover in terms of his draft stock upon his return to high school, but if he can show he’s still an elite prospect, it’s only a matter of time before he’s on college scouts’ radars again.
