In late March, LiAngelo Ball—younger brother of Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball and middle of the three Ball brothers—announced he was declaring for the 2018 NBA Draft. Ball spent the past few months in Lithuania after a shoplifting incident in China led to a souring of his collegiate season. His draft announcement was generally met with jokes, with people asking, Does this dude seriously think he'll get drafted?
During his time abroad, however, we know at least the Lakers came to scout him. Earlier this week, LiAngelo worked out for NBA scouts at the Pro Basketball Combine at IMG Academy.
Now, we have a bit more insight into the teams that may be interested in picking up LiAngelo. HoopsHype's Alex Kennedy reports that five teams seem to be interested in the former UCLA Bruin.
.@LiAngeloBall says he interviewed with the Thunder and Suns yesterday at the @ProBBallCombine. After this event ends, he has private workouts scheduled with the Lakers, Clippers and Warriors.
The Lakers picking LiAngelo would definitely make LaVar happy. He'd probably also be excited for his second son to end up in Los Angeles even if it's with the Clippers.
Still, there's a big difference between working out for/interviewing with a team and being high on their radar. Teams pay attention to any player who even remotely interests them, as they don't want to miss out on the league's next great unheralded prospect (e.g. Draymond Green).
LiAngelo is projected as a fringe second-round pick, but it would not be surprising if he went undrafted. We should see him at the 2018 Summer League.
