The Grass May Not Be Greener for LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball in Lithuanian Pro Basketball League this Year

LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball have signed one year deals to play for Prienai Vytautas in the Lithuanian League. The two will leave for Europe in mid-January. We hope they know what they are getting into with this cash strapped club team.

Vytautas is a low level club from a small, non-English village of roughly 10,000 people in southern Lithuania, but it is not likely the teenagers will get much playing time in that league. The team also plays in the less competitive Baltic League, where 19-year old LiAngelo who created an international incident when he was arrested for shoplifting on UCLA’s trip to China and has since dropped out of school, and 16 year old high school talent LaMelo, who left Chino Hills, Calif. High to be home schooled, have been promised between 20 and 25 minutes a game. Prenai is 4-1 in the Baltic League. Its only loss was a forfeit when the game was stopped with three minutes remaining and the score tied at 65 when the coach was ejected for arguing what he thought were questionable calls.

Vytautas has sparingly signed American players in the past, the only one being Vanderbilt guard Brad Tinsley, who left the team after a month. The club plays in a 1700 seat arena. Tickets cost five euros. The team has no general manager and does not practice regularly because of its financial situation.

Currently, the team’s best player is the coach’s son Edvinas Seskus, who was considered a huge prospect as a teenager but never developed because of a series of injuries.

The average salaries in the Baltic League are $500 a month, according to knowledgeable Jonathan Givony of Draft Express. But the Ball brother’s father LaVar says money was not the most important factor in the decision. He is more interested in his sons playing together. The family will have a representative there and LaVar plans on making frequent trips overseas to watch their development in this ongoing reality show.