Even if the Golden State Warriors wanted to take LaMelo Ball, his father, LaVar Ball, would rather the Dubs not draft his son.
The Golden State Warriors will have a guaranteed top-five pick in the upcoming 2020 NBA Draft. With a 14% shot at the No. 1 pick and around a 40% chance at landing in the top three, the Warriors will likely get the prospect of their choice.
One of the top prospects in the draft is point guard LaMelo Ball, an 18-year-old guard that played his last season in the Australian Basketball League.
Ball is projected to be a top-five pick given his length and vision. His efficiency and scoring in the NBL were both lacking as he shot under 38% from the field in what was considered the tenth-best non-NBA league back in 2017.
However, if his father, who had made quite his own news over the last few years, has anything to say about it, he won’t be taken by Golden State.
On the podcast Say Less with Kaz, LaVar Ball said that he’d rather not have his son play in Golden State. This sounds familiar though as Stephen Curry’s dad didn’t want him in Golden State either, but we see how that turned out.
“They got Klay and the other guys, and now you want to put Melo in that mix to say you got to follow these guys. Melo ain’t no follower…. There’s a reason you looking at my son.”
The point that LaVar is making is he doesn’t want his son to wait behind the veterans, as he even notes. Well, that type of waiting has proven to be successful for some players, primarily those that are highly inefficient like LaMelo.
After all, neither Kawhi Leonard or Paul George started over 40 games their rookie seasons. Waiting is sometimes ideal, and getting in a winning culture is almost irreplaceable as far as getting that experience to take a rookie’s level of play to the next level.
This is an interesting take from Ball who saw his other son struggle and eventually be traded from Los Angeles, where he was able to make his own mistakes.
That said, it seems highly unlikely the Warriors will be targeting LaMelo anyway as they’ve already reportedly been interested in point guard Tyrese Haliburton and center James Wiseman, two other top prospects.