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Source: LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball leave BC Vytautas due to injuries
LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball have ended their stint in Lithuania because both of the brothers are hurt and there are only two games left in the season, sources close to the Ball family told ESPN's Chris Haynes.
The early exit had the approval of the team, BC Vytautas, the sources told Haynes.
But Vytautas head coach Virginijus Seskus said he was shocked at the siblings' departure.
"It's just another proof they came here to make a show, not for basketball. It's sad they didn't understand what we gave them. We understand how they helped us, but they don't," Seskus told Lithuanian outlet 15min.lt.
LaVar Ball, the brothers' father, told 15min.lt that LaMelo would not return to the team next season.
Oldest brother Lonzo Ball, who just finished his rookie season with the Los Angeles Lakers, was in Lithuania to visit his siblings, and now the three will join their father and return to California.
LiAngelo has been sidelined recently with an ankle injury, and the early departure will give him time to prepare for the NBA draft. He is expected to work out for some teams and will participate at the Professional Basketball Combine in May at IMG Academy in Florida.
In their time with BC Vytautas, LiAngelo averaged 12.6 points and 22 minutes per game, and LaMelo averaged 6.5 points and 12 minutes.
LiAngelo started the season with UCLA but was embroiled in a shoplifting scandal in China while on a preseason trip with the Bruins. Upon his return to the United States, he was suspended indefinitely by UCLA, and he left the program without having played a game.
Lithuanian basketball journalist Donatas Urbonas was the first to report the Ball brothers' exit from the team.
source: http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/23317012/battling-injuries-liangelo-lamelo-ball-leave-lithuania-bc-vytautas
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deadspin version:
https://deadspin.com/ball-brothers-short-bizarre-lithuanian-experiment-come-1825565179
Ball Brothers' Short, Bizarre Lithuanian Experiment Comes To Predictably Silly End - Patrick Redford
With BC Vytautas needing to win their last two games to avoid relegation from the Lithuanian first division, LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball are headed back to the United States, thus ending LaVar Ball’s misguided attempt to keep his family in the news. Ball told Donatas Urbonas, who first reported the news, that LiAngelo needed time to rehab his ankle before the draft and LaMelo was no longer getting playing time, so they decided to leave. Presumably, he’s referring to the Brazilian league draft, because dude is not nearly an NBA player.
Since the Ball brothers were only notionally in Lithuania to play basketball, the news isn’t altogether shocking, but BC Vytautas coach Virginijus Seskus and Ball are incensed at each other.
Seskus also said that LaMelo was not interested in defense, while LaVar Ball said that “coach ruined everything,” so Seskus was going to have to pay the price of no longer having his youngest son on his team. I’m sure he’ll miss a reedy 16-year-old who shot 23 percent from the field in his nine games. Seskus, who had to have known that Ball tends to freak out when anyone else coaches his sons, responded to Ball’s scathing assessment by saying, “Whatever. It’s unacceptable. Kids want to play pro but is it an example how to behave? LaVar loves his family but he doesn’t understand that 16-year-old kid can’t fully play at strong pro league. That’s the worst.”
This is all very dumb, and now the two brothers will no longer be able to play college ball because of their dad. Who knows, maybe they’ll go ruin a Hungarian third-division club next year.
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