LaMelo Ball's peers weigh in on the homeschooling decision
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COLORADO SPRINGS – The odds of someone predicting Lavar Ball's next act might be about as low as winning the Powerball. Last month, the CEO of the Big Baller Brand and leader of the Ball household made his latest splash by pulling his son, and five-star 2019 guard, LaMelo Ball out of Chino Hills (Calif.) High School, in order to homeschool him.
“I'm not dealing with the administration over there,” Lavar Ball told ESPN. “I don't want no distractions on Melo. So therefore I'm going to homeschool him and make him the best basketball player ever."
At the United States Basketball Trials this weekend, 54 of the very best class of 2018, 2019 and 2020 prospects assembled for two, two-a-day workouts. Many of the top prospects from the Rivals.com database were all on hand; Ball was not.
While virtually every major prospect holds aspirations of playing high-level college basketball and someday earning an NBA paycheck, all the participants in Colorado have kept the straight line toward their aspirations.
LaMelo Ball, a UCLA commit, has not been short for attention. He drives a Lamborghini, has racked up over 230,000 followers on Twitter and even has his own signature shoe. Some view him as a charade while others believe he is the real deal.
“The way that he plays, he can fit into any system,” top-five 2020 guard R.J. Hampton said. “He can come into any camp and any game and just do what he does. He is cold.”
Similar sentiments were shared by four-star 2019 guard De’Vion Harmon.
“I think that he is a very good player, I really do,” Harmon said. “He is going to be a really good player at UCLA.”
But what about sitting out his junior and most likely his senior season years of high school ball?
“I think if he gets his grades, and does his school work, he is going to be alright,” Hampton said. “He is going to be in the gym and come back tougher.”
Harmon isn’t so sure if the homeschool idea is the best thing for Ball.
“I like to play against good competition,” the Rivals150 junior said. “If you play against competition and great talent, it brings the best out of you. That is the only thing that I don’t like about it.”
Five-star Moses Brown believes the idea of homeschooling LaMelo should be left out of the spotlight, which is something not usually associated with the Ball family.
“If they feel like that is the best thing that he should do, then he should do it,” he said. “It is their business.”
Harmon shared similar feelings.
“They have their own household. They can do whatever they feel is best.”
