LaMelo Ball is one of the top 2020 NBA Draft prospects. The youngest of the Ball brothers has had a wild career before even entering the NBA, but with his professional career in the United States just around the corner teams are beginning to take a deeper look at what he could bring to the court.
One of the teams taking a close look at Ball is the Golden State Warriors.
According to reports, the Warriors sent a group of executives to Australia to scout Ball while he was playing for the National Basketball League’s Illawarra Hawks.
From The Athletic’s Ethan Strauss:
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“Ball declared himself done with the NBL season shortly after Warriors assistant general manager Kirk Lacob’s made a fact-finding trip to Australia. With Ball, NBA teams will be working off of incomplete information, hoping to fill in the gaps through interviews with teammates and coaches.”
Ball recently decided to shut it down while he continues to recover from a foot injury. Ball was playing for the Illawarra Hawks in the National Basketball League in Australia before suffering the injury. Ball rehabilitated his draft stock during his time in the NBL and was rising up the draft boards, and now he will be putting his focus towards impressing NBA scouts ahead of the upcoming draft.
During his time with Illawarra, Ball averaged 17 points, 7.5 rebounds, 6.8 assists, and 1.7 steals in 31 minutes per game this season.
LaMelo has been so impressive that one NBL executive believes there is no way the youngest Ball brother will be passed up with the top pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.
“I don’t see any way where LaMelo doesn’t go No. 1. He sees the floor better than anyone, and his passing and shooting is like nothing I’ve seen before,” the NBL executive told Yahoo Sports’ Krysten Peek.
His performance has been so impressive that Ball now finds himself as the top-rated prospect on the DraftExpress 2020 NBA Draft Board. Ball was initially slated as an early second-round pick but has since seen a steady rise up the rankings.
