February 28, 2018, published on BleacherReport.com (BR Mag): http://mag.bleacherreport.com/the-lamelo-show/
Behind the scenes of how a too-bizarre-to-be-true trip to Lithuania exposed the impossible teenage life of LaMelo Ball as a subplot in his dad’s reality-show basketball empire.
The doors swing open. The boy with the floppy blond curls rushes into Prienai Arena. A group of Lithuanian teens, who arrived 60 minutes before tipoff, scurry over to get a closer look, but the boy ignores them. He’s locked in his own world as he spots two stone-faced security guards looking on from just outside the locker room. The boy, sporting a pair of black headphones and a Big Baller Brand sweatsuit, grins while Bruno Mars and Cardi B’s “Finesse (Remix)” blasts in the background.
It’s his time.
Sixteen-year-old LaMelo Ball clutches an imaginary rock. Dipping his shoulders left, then right, he rushes toward the two security guards and crosses over both men.
But a few seconds later, I watch fans abandon LaMelo for the man from whom he gets his smile. Here comes LaVar Ball.
Puffing out his chest, LaVar shimmies left to right in a navy suit and light-blue pocket square. He’s energized by the eyes set on him. Three cameramen from the family’s Facebook reality show Ball in the Family follow nearly his every move.
Now, it’s his time. (READ FULL STORY HERE).
Mirin Fader 