Top NBA draft prospect LaMelo Ball’s stint in the NBL has been a winner for all parties
Business was already booming for the NBL, but the arrival of LaMelo Ball has taken basketball’s resurgence to another level. Greg Davis looks at how the signing has changed the league.
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He may not be stepping on to the court at Nissan Arena on Saturday night but the injured LaMelo Ball is responsible for the sellout crowd that will watch his Illawarra Hawks do battle with the Brisbane Bullets.
The 18-year-old has been putting bums on seats and gluing eyes to screens on both sides of the Pacific Ocean during his stint in the NBL.
Business was already booming for the NBL, but the arrival of Ball has taken basketball’s resurgence to another level.
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Ball and fellow guard RJ Hampton are in Australia this season as part of the NBL’s Next Stars program, which offers US young guns an alternative to college basketball by paying them and giving them an opportunity to fast-track their development by playing against grown men.
And the kid once better known as the youngest son of the controversial Lavar Ball and the brother of former LA Lakers – now New Orleans Pelicans – guard Lonzo Ball has been putting his own name up in lights.
In the US this week, ESPN’s NBA draft analysts Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz had Ball as their No.1 pick in their latest mock draft. Hampton was at No.5.
So Ball can really play. And people are taking notice judging by the social media numbers. Consider this:
• Ball’s NBL debut against Brisbane in Round 1 was seen by one million people in the US on Facebook Watch.
• The Round 4 game between Hampton’s New Zealand Breakers and Ball’s Illawarra was viewed by over two million people in the US on Facebook Watch, making it the most watched match in NBL history.
• Highlights of Ball’s triple double against Cairns Taipans in Round 8 have been watched by over 10 million people worldwide on social media.
• Through nine rounds this season, the NBL’s average Instagram post engagement is up 238 per cent, average Twitter post engagement is up 137 per cent, and average Facebook post engagement is up 108 per cent compared to the same time last season.
• On the day of Ball’s signing, the NBL Instagram account had 73,000 followers – it now has 153,000 followers. The Illawarra Hawks Instagram account had 9000 followers – it now has 73,500 followers. The Hawks went from 9000 followers to 31,000 followers in the 48 hours after the announcement was made.
Brisbane are set to host the Hawks again on January 18 at Nissan Arena.
Speculation has swirled that Ball may leave Illawarra early to prepare for the NBA Draft, but much to the delight of both his club and the competition, he quashed that scuttlebutt this week.
“I don’t know where that rumour came from, but when I decided to come play over here, I committed to the whole season. I’m not leaving early,” he told Yahoo Sports.
Talent scouts from three NBA clubs were expected to be in the crowd at Nissan Arena, which has become par for the course wherever Ball and Hampton have played this NBL season.
Should they both go in the top-five draft picks to further validate the Next Stars program, NBA-bound kids and NBL clubs joining forces will also become the norm, rather than the exception. The added ripple effect is that with all these NBA club scouts in Australia, it presents an opportunity for Aussie kids to press their claims.
If the ever-improving man mountain Will Magnay has a blinder for the Bullets in front of the scouts, it won’t hurt his chances of an invite to the NBA Summer League, will it?
All this Ball hype is a world away from four years ago when the last potential NBA No.1 draft pick was on our shores.
The LSU college team came to Australia for a five-game pre-season tour and one of the Tigers players was an Aussie kid by the name of Ben Simmons, who had just graduated from high school. Part of that tour included a low-key midweek game at Brisbane’s Auchenflower Basketball Stadium against an All-Stars team from the Queensland State League.
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Simmons had 18 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, eight steals and three blocks, as well as the winning basket in the 91-88 win that did not feature on Facebook Watch, Instagram or ESPN.
Just getting a TV camera or a newspaper photographer to the game was a bridge too far.
LaMelo has not been able to slip under the radar so easily.
When your last name is Ball, and you are a very serious baller, the bright lights follow you everywhere.
Originally published as Top NBA draft prospect LaMelo Ball’s stint in the NBL has been a winner for all parties