Hornets sign LiAngelo Ball to non-guaranteed training camp deal
The Charlotte Hornets couldn't be happier after second-year point guard LaMelo Ball made the All-Star team last summer. Monday, they decided one Ball brother wasn't enough, signing LaMelo's older brother LiAngelo Ball to a non-guaranteed training camp deal.
LiAngelo, 23, averaged 9.1 points last year in eight games with Charlotte's G League team, the Greensboro Swarm. He played for the Hornets in the last two Las Vegas Summer Leagues, and last year spent a single day on the team's training camp roster before being waived. Then the Swarm took him 14th in the G League draft.
It's unclear if LiAngelo is a true prospect, as his pro career has been filled with injuries and questionable decisions from his father, Big Baller Brand founder LaVar Ball. He left UCLA before he ever played a game, after the university suspended him for shoplifting. Ball went on to play in Lithuania, then in his father's short-lived Junior Basketball Association. Both seasons, he injured his ankle and couldn't play in the summer. Then in 2019-20, his G League season was cancelled before he played a single game for the Oklahoma City Blue.
LiAngelo is a longshot to make the Hornets roster, but he has an excellent chance of returning to the Swarm again. He did shoot 53.6% from 3-point range last year, which is a big, baller skill in any league.
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