LaMelo LaFrance Ball was born on August 22, 2001. He is an American professional basketball player for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected by the Hornets with the third overall pick of the 2020 NBA draft. Ball was voted the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2021 and named an NBA All-Star the following season in 2022. LaMelo Ball stands at 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) tall and weighs 180 lb (82 kg).
Ball began high school at Chino Hills High School in Chino Hills, California, where he won a state championship and achieved national success as a freshman with his older brothers Lonzo and LiAngelo. Before his junior season, a coaching dispute prompted him to leave Chino Hills and sign with Lithuanian professional team Prienai. In 2018, he played in the Junior Basketball Association (JBA), a league created by his father, before returning to high school as a senior with SPIRE Academy in Geneva, Ohio. Ball was a five-star recruit and committed to UCLA, but chose to forgo college basketball amid eligibility concerns and play in Australia for the Illawarra Hawks of the National Basketball League (NBL) in 2019. There he had a meteoric rise. Previously, scouts had mocked Ball as a second-round pick and potentially never playing in the NBA. However, his success led him to be selected third overall by the Hornets in the 2020 draft.
Ball and his brothers have attracted national attention since playing together in high school. His father, LaVar, also grew into a media personality in 2017. Ball has a signature shoe by his father's company, Big Baller Brand, and a role on his family's Facebook Watch reality show Ball in the Family. His older brother Lonzo Ball is a guard for the Chicago Bulls.
Ball was born in Anaheim, California to LaVar and Tina Ball, who were both former college basketball players. At age four, he started playing the sport with his older brothers, Lonzo and LiAngelo, facing much older opponents. He also played flag football with his brothers at age five but continued to focus on basketball. In 2013, while in seventh grade, Ball began playing with his brothers on Big Ballers VXT, a 17-and-under Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) team launched and coached by his parents. The team, which was not sponsored by a major shoe company, did not compete in top AAU circuits and instead took part in local competitions.
Ball was projected as the first overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft. In the 2020 NBA draft, which was held on November 18, 2020, Ball was selected with the third overall pick by the Charlotte Hornets. He and his brother Lonzo, who was chosen No. 2 overall in the 2017 draft, became the first set of brothers to both be drafted in the top 3 of the NBA draft. After an up-and-down preseason, he began the regular season coming off the bench. Ball made his debut on December 23, 2020, going scoreless along with one rebound, three assists, and two steals in 16 minutes in a 121–114 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. After the season Ball was named the 2020–21 NBA Rookie of the Year and was selected to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.
