Player Bio

LaMelo was born Aug. 22, 2001 in Chino Hills, California. He's the son of LaVar and Tina Ball, who both played college basketball. LaMelo's brother, Lonzo is an NBA point guard, while his other brother, LiAngelo has played professionally. Ball is part of the Facebook Watch reality show called "Ball in the Family", which shows the life of the Ball family. The Big Baller Brand, a sports apparel company founded by Ball's family, has released a signature shoe for LaMelo titled the Melo Ball 1. He's the youngest athlete in history to have a signature shoe. Prior to the NBA, Ball played professionally in Lithuania and Australia. Ball did not attend college and opted to play basketball internationally instead. He began in 2017-18 with Vytautas Prienu of the Lithuanian LKL. He appeared in eight games (one start), averaging 6.5 points, 2.4 assists and 1.1 rebounds in 12.8 minutes. His best performance with the team was against Zalgiris, where Ball recorded 19 points (6-11 FG, 4-7 3Pt, 3-4 FT), six assists and one steal in 28 minutes. Ball's next contract came with Illawarra in the Australian NBL. There, he started all 13 of his appearances, where he averaged 17.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 1.5 steals in 31.3 minutes. His best performance was a win over Cairns, where Ball posted 32 points (11-20 FG, 4-7 3Pt, 6-8 FT), 13 assists, 11 rebounds and one steal in 40 minutes.