LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball dominated Tuesday's Big Baller Brand Challenge game, combining to score 108 points in Prienu Vytautas' 159-115 win over Guangdong.
On the same day his agent, Harrison Gaines, told Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports he declared for the 2018 NBA draft, LiAngelo had a double-double with 72 points and 11 rebounds.
LaMelo chipped in to help his brother with 36 points and six rebounds.
Prior to the game, LaVar Ball offered words of inspiration and encouragement to the team in the locker room (warning: contains explicit language):
Even though Prienu Vytautas wasn't able to average 50 points per quarter or beat Guangdong by 70, it's hard for the Ball family patriarch to complain about a lot after his sons had two of the best performances of their young careers.
Josiah Johnson, creator of Comedy Central's Legends of Chamberlain Heights, posted a GIF of LaVar's possible celebration after LiAngelo's big day:
In addition to their individual showings, the Ball brothers worked together to ensure Vytautas would earn the victory:
Lithuanian journalist Donatas Urbonas noted the final Big Baller Brand exhibition game will likely take place on April 2 in London.
LiAngelo needs to make a lot of progress if he hopes to get drafted this summer. The former UCLA guard isn't listed on B/R NBA draft analyst Jonathan Wasserman's most recent big board top 50.
Charania noted LiAngelo is expected to take part in the Professional Basketball Combine at Florida's IMG Academy in May.
The Big Baller Brand Challenge features teams from lower divisions and youth competition, so what LiAngelo and LaMelo did against Guangdong's youth team doesn't necessarily represent an evolutionary leap forward for either player.
With all eyes on LiAngelo as he tries to make it into the NBA, this was a strong starting point for him to showcase the talent that could end up getting him a job with a team before the start of next season.
Read 0 Comments
Download the app for comments Get the B/R app to join the conversation