In his next game, on February 7, Ball scored 92 points in a win over Los Osos High School, the second-most single-game points in California high school history. On February 4, 2017, he suffered his first high school loss despite scoring a game-high 36 points, with Oak Hill Academy ending Chino Hills' 60-game win streak. On December 26, 2016, Ball made national headlines for making a half-court shot two seconds into a game. Ball averaged 16.4 points and 3.8 assists per game and shared MaxPreps National Freshman of the Year honors with his teammate, Onyeka Okongwu. Chino Hills finished the season with a 35–0 record and claimed the mythical national championship. Later in the month, Ball helped his team capture the CIF Open Division state championship, recording 14 points in the title game against De La Salle High School. On March 5, 2016, he scored 26 points in a win over Sierra Canyon School for the CIF Southern Section Open Division title. In his first game, Ball scored 27 points as a starter. He was teammates with his two older brothers, Lonzo and LiAngelo, and his cousin, Andre Ball.
In his freshman season, Ball started playing basketball for Chino Hills High School in Chino Hills, California. The team, which was not sponsored by a major shoe company, did not compete in top AAU circuits and instead took part in local competitions. In 2013, while in seventh grade, Ball began playing with his brothers on Big Ballers VXT, a 17-and-under Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) team launched and coached by his parents. He also played flag football with his brothers at age five but continued to focus on basketball. At age four, he started playing the sport with his older brothers, Lonzo and LiAngelo, facing much older opponents. Ball has a signature shoe by his father's company, Big Baller Brand, and a role on his family's Facebook Watch reality show Ball in the Family.īall was trained in basketball by his father, LaVar, as soon as he could walk. His father, LaVar, also grew into a media personality in 2017.
He was selected by the Hornets with the third overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft and was named the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2021.īall and his brothers have attracted national attention since playing together in high school. Formerly committed to UCLA, he was a five-star recruit but chose to forgo college basketball amid eligibility concerns and play in Australia for the Illawarra Hawks of the National Basketball League (NBL) in 2019, winning NBL Rookie of the Year. In 2018, he played in the Junior Basketball Association (JBA), a league created by his father, before returning to high school as a senior with SPIRE Academy in Geneva, Ohio.
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Before his junior season, a coaching dispute prompted him to leave Chino Hills and sign with Lithuanian professional team Prienai. He was selected by the Hornets with the third overall pick of the 2020 NBA draft.īall began high school at Chino Hills High School in Chino Hills, California, where he won a state championship and achieved national success as a freshman with his older brothers Lonzo and LiAngelo.
LaMelo LaFrance Ball (born August 22, 2001) is an American professional basketball player for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA).