LaVar Ball and sons LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball flew to Lithuania from California on Tuesday as the boys are set to begin playing professionally there this week with Vytautas Prienai.
“We’ll go over there [to Lithuania] for a hot minute just to let ’em know before these boys get on the Lakers,” the elder Ball told TMZ.
LiAngelo, 19, pulled out of UCLA following his arrest in China in November for shoplifting, while LaMelo, 16, previously withdrew from Chino Hills (CA) High School.
LaVar has said he hopes to have both boys eventually join older brother Lonzo on the Lakers, but LaMelo won’t be eligible to play in the NBA until he’s 19.
LaVar told TMZ he expects his boys to dominate overseas — but for “less than a couple years” before returning to L.A. to play for the Lakers.
LaVar Ball told TMZ he might buy a new home in Lithuania, which he referred to as the “Big Baller house”
When I interviewed the boys last month for Bleacher Report and asked if they felt they’d be missing out on the college experience, they both said no and that they trusted their father.
“It’s fun,” LiAngelo said of UCLA. “I respect the coaches and stuff, and I had friends on the team, but I don’t feel like I’m missing out. I still gotta go my own way. I just gotta take a different route.
“Yeah, [college is] fun, but the real world is fun too, so I don’t feel like I’m missing out on nothing.”
Of his father, he added: “He knows what he’s doing, so I just trust the process.” Meantime, ESPN dispatched Jeff Goodman to cover the Balls’ arrival.The scene outside the baggage claim door — awaiting the Ball family. pic.twitter.com/d8Z6No7Gar
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) January 3, 2018
The GM of the team here to welcome the two brothers. pic.twitter.com/fQ6q9uyXXz
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) January 3, 2018
