Is Pulling LaMelo Ball From High School the Right Move?

The NBA season is fast approaching, which means LaVar Ball needs to stay relevant in the news cycle at all costs.

Only this time, the Ball family patriarch didn’t use his Los Angeles Lakers rookie point guard son as a way to infiltrate the sports media landscape. No, this time LaVar used his son LaMelo, a high school junior, as his point of attack.

On Monday night, the Los Angeles Times reported that LaVar would be pulling LaMelo from Chino Hills High School for his last two years and homeschooling him. The move ultimately shouldn’t surprise anyone given LaVar’s intriguing tactics to further the Big Baller Brand at all costs, but it is still interesting given the fact that LaMelo’s game is far from a finished product.

Still just 16 years old, LaMelo is in the midst of one of the most crucial development periods of his basketball life. While his body begins to physically mature, his game will need to mature with it. Not known for his humility, LaVar seems to have that covered on his own though, telling ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne that he plans to make LaMelo “the best basketball player ever.”

Certain players before LaMelo have been homeschooled heading into college, so the move by LaVar isn’t completely unprecedented. However, unlike certain players before him like Michael Porter Jr. and Michael Beasley, LaMelo’s talent at the next level is far more in question. Scout.com ranks LaMelo as the 30th player in the class of 2017. 247sports pins the youngest Ball as the 17th player. Out of the three major recruit ranking services, LaMelo cracks the top-10 in just one, ESPN, where he’s ranked No. 7.

As the basketball world becomes continuously aware of LaVar’s master plan to spread Big Baller Brand far and wide, this particular marketing move is a bit more puzzling than past moves. Granted, the Ball family already has one son in the bank when it comes to actually making it to the sport’s highest league. Lonzo was the second overall pick just a few months ago, and the Lakers are all in on making him the face of the franchise’s’ next phase. But to jeopardize the growth of a son that Big Baller Brand just released a $395 shoe for is a bold strategy.

LaVar does make a sound argument in his justification for pulling Melo out of school. After hiring a new basketball coach, Dennis Latimore, Chino Hills basketball is set to undergo a shift in their offensive strategy. According to LaVar, Latimore made a comment about LaMelo’s high volume shooting, saying “all those 50 shots a game, that’s going to stop.” All their lives, the Ball children have been taught by LaVar to push the pace and shoot the ball at will. That’s their style. It’s essentially just short of being their family creed at this point. If LaVar truly believes a new coach could have that big of an impact on LaMelo’s game (despite at the same time claiming to be responsible for all of Chino Hills’ success over the last few years), then pulling him out of that environment while he’s still a minor is LaVar’s parental right.

But for a young teenager who already drives a Lamborghini, is famous on social media and constantly in the news, helping him directly avoid any type of opposition doesn’t send the best message for his future career. Chances are as LaMelo begins to advance in the world of basketball, with his next stop most likely being UCLA, coaches aren’t going to fall in line with how his father wants him to play basketball. For Lonzo, this wasn’t much of a problem because his true gift is his passing ability. That’s not the case for LaMelo.

Despite the obvious hurdles that skipping the last two years of high school presents for LaMelo, at the end of the day this move is nothing more than your typical Big Baller Brand builder. LaVar now has his youngest son, already equipped with his own signature shoe, if a rare position where he holds complete autonomy over every move he makes in his basketball career. At this rate, if LaMelo were to skip college and head overseas to play for a season before entering the NBA draft, it wouldn’t shock many people.

LaVar has done a spectacular job thus far of building and marketing his own brand. Every time he speaks, people listen. With Lonzo backing up LaVar’s mouth out in Los Angeles, the media and basketball world will be more inclined to pay attention to anything he’s got in store.

The benefits of pure five-on-five action for a young player are duly noted, and pulling LaMelo from the consistent action in that regard is riskier than any other claim or move LaVar has made up until this point. One step further, learning to play in a system that isn’t specifically crafted around your strengths as a growing player may even be more beneficial than strictly just hitting the court. At this point, though, that doesn’t seem to matter to LaVar.

With two years left before LaMelo hits UCLA’s campus (or wherever he plays next), the ball is fully in LaVar’s court. This time, however, the Big Baller Brand may have just taken their most difficult shot yet.