Yahoo Sports LaVar Ball predictably pulls sons LaMelo, LiAngelo from Lithuania over coaching dispute
LaVar Ball hasn’t been in the news for a while and hasn’t feuded with one of his sons’ coaches in a while, which makes today’s news regarding the world’s most notorious sports dad all too predictable.
You will be shocked to learn LaVar Ball is pulling his sons LaMelo and LiAngelo off their Lithuanian professional team over a dispute with BC Vytautas Prienai coach Virginijus Seskus regarding LiAngelo’s playing time, according to Lithuanian basketball and Ball family beat reporter Donatas Urbonas.
Ball reality show comes to an end. BC Vytautas confirmed that Ball brothers are set to leave Lithuania next week, with two LKL regular season games left to play. BC Vytautas still will be fighting to avoid relegation.
— Donatas Urbonas (@Urbodo) April 25, 2018
"We're not going to waste our time no more", LaVar told. LiAngelo injured his ankle, LaMelo didn't get any playing time, so LaVar decided to take all his sons back to LA. Lonzo is visiting his family in Prienai right now. They're set to leave Sunday-Monday.
— Donatas Urbonas (@Urbodo) April 25, 2018
LaVar added that they had to shut down Gelo for the season in order to prepare better for NBA draft combine, pre-draft camps and so on. But he was mad that Melo didn’t get any playing time in the end of the season
— Donatas Urbonas (@Urbodo) April 25, 2018
LaVar Ball told he was happy with the Lithuania, its people and BC Vytautas organization: “I just didn’t get along with the coach”
— Donatas Urbonas (@Urbodo) April 25, 2018
Lonzo Ball on what are the chances for LaMelo to play in Lithuania next season: “We’ll see. He is still so young”
— Donatas Urbonas (@Urbodo) April 25, 2018
LaVar Ball confirmed LaMelo is not going back to Prienai next season: “You really ask me this? Coach ruined everything and he’ll have to pay the price that Melo is not coming back.”
— Donatas Urbonas (@Urbodo) April 25, 2018
This is straight out of LaVar’s playbook. He has publicly questioned his sons’ high school, college and professional coaches, pulling LaMelo out of California’s Chino Hills High in October, pulling LiAngelo out of UCLA in December (three weeks after he was arrested for shoplifting in China), and telling ESPN in January that his son Lonzo and the Los Angeles Lakers “don’t want to play for” coach Luke Walton.
This is either a publicity stunt, just plain quitting or both. Vytautas (8-24), currently dead last in the Lithuanian Basketball League and facing relegation to the country’s second-tier league, has two games left on its schedule after this weekend. The Balls signed one-year deals in December that came with contract guarantee options that were picked up for the remainder of the season in February.
LiAngelo, 19, averaged 12.6 points on 42.5 percent shooting and 2.9 rebounds in 21.7 minutes per game, mostly off the bench, over 14 appearances for Vytautas, according to RealGM.com. He has reportedly been battling an ankle injury. The 16-year-old LaMelo, meanwhile, has appeared in just eight games, averaging 6.5 points on 26.8 percent shooting and 2.4 minutes in 12.8 minutes, per RealGM’s database.
LiAngelo declared for the 2018 NBA draft in March, but he is not expected to be drafted, despite his dad’s dream of all three sons playing for the Lakers in 2020. When LiAngelo goes undrafted, LaVar will make news with his two younger sons’ next team and a feud with the next coach will surely follow.
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Ben Rohrbach is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach
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