So the Pistons are getting a Ball brother after all.
According to Shams Charania, Detroit has inked a one-year, non-guaranteed deal with LiAngelo Ball.
LiAngelo is definitely the least talented of the three Ball brothers and his biggest claim to fame thus far was when he was arrested in China for allegedly stealing a pair of Louis Vitton sunglasses. The incident happened when LiAngelo was still playing for UCLA and could’ve resulted in the Ball brother having to pay massive fines and serve a three to 10-year jail sentence. However, LiAngelo along with two other freshman teammates who were also arrested for the alleged crime was eventually released and allowed to go back home where they faced an indefinite suspension from the University.
His father — the very outspoken LaVar Ball apparently grew frustrated with the length of LiAngelo’s suspension from the UCLA Basketball program and essentially had his son withdraw from UCLA to play overseas in Lithuania.
Furthermore, the incident ignited a back and forth between Donald Trump and LaVar after the President felt he deserved a “thank you” for LiAngelo’s release from Chinese custody — something Trump claimed to have a hand in.
Eventually, LiAngelo made his way back to the United States after going undrafted by the NBA in 2018 and signed with the Los Angeles Ballers of the Junior Basketball League — a controversial and now defunct league founded by his father.
The following year, LiAngelo signed with the Oklahoma City Blue as a practice player of the NBA-G League. The Blue only played one game (which LiAngelo did not play in) before the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In any sense though, all three Ball brothers now have NBA contracts.
