Lonzo Ball remains out of contract heading into a fresh NBA season.
LaMelo Ball has been traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
LiAngelo Ball is out of the NBA altogether.
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It is a very different picture to what many imagined almost a decade ago.
Brothers Lonzo, LiAngelo and LaMelo were supposed to take over the NBA.
They had the talent, the loud father, their own Big Baller Brand and enough attention surrounding them that the family became viewed as the ‘Kardashians’ of the basketball world.
At one point, their father LaVar Ball even dreamed of all three of his sons playing together for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Almost a decade later, only one remains in the NBA.
So, what happened to the Ball empire?
HIGH SCHOOL PHENOMS
It all really exploded at Chino Hills.
Lonzo, LiAngelo and LaMelo took over the internet while playing high school basketball, with the three brothers sharing the court during Lonzo’s senior season.
They led Chino Hills to a perfect 35-0 record and a state championship in 2016 before Lonzo departed for UCLA.
The hype followed him.
Lonzo starred for the Bruins, averaging 14.6 points, a nation-leading 7.6 assists and six rebounds in 35.1 minutes per game.
Suddenly, the eldest Ball brother wasn’t just an internet sensation.
The Ball brothers were once among the most talked-about young basketballers in America.Source: AFP
He was one of the best prospects in basketball and of course, LaVar made sure everyone knew about it.
Speaking recently on the Curious Mike Podcast, hosted by Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr., Lonzo admitted he believes his father’s media circus in the lead-up to the 2017 NBA Draft made it almost impossible for the Lakers not to select him.
“I think he had a huge influence on it, bro,” Ball said.
“To be honest… I think he damn near made it to where they had to pick me.
“Really, to a point, I really do feel like that.”
Looking back on those early years, Lonzo also admitted he wished he had taken more control of his own career rather than simply following his father’s lead.
“I literally was just hooping and following my pops, listening to my pops,” Ball said.
“I was just doing what I was told really. I guess that would be my one regret, like taking control of my career earlier.”
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Lonzo was already considered one of the best players in a loaded draft class featuring the likes of Jayson Tatum, De’Aaron Fox, Donovan Mitchell and Bam Adebayo.
LaVar made sure the entire basketball world knew exactly who his son was, and he wasn’t exactly subtle about it.
Before the draft, LaVar claimed Lonzo could have the same impact on the Lakers as Magic Johnson.
“Lonzo (would) have that same impact Magic (Johnson) had. I’m trying to tell you. Same impact,” LaVar told Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s First Take.
“He’ll be better than Magic, how’s that?”
He wasn’t finished there.
“Lonzo is Magic with a jump shot,” he said.
“What I mean by that is everybody wants to play with him.
“The winning, the running, the long passes.
Lonzo Ball was selected second overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2017 NBA Draft.Source: AFP
“They tried to compare him to Jason Kidd, but if you look at it he’s more like Penny Hardaway (with his) size, length, style.”
The Lakers eventually did exactly what LaVar had spent months telling everyone they should do, selecting Lonzo with the second overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.
If there wasn’t already enough pressure on the hometown kid, Magic Johnson added some more.
At Lonzo’s introductory press conference, Johnson pointed towards the retireeven Magic himself, d jerseys hanging on the wall of the Lakers’ training facility.
“I’m going to put a little pressure on you right now,” Johnson said.
“You look to your right, there’s some jerseys hanging on that wall.
“We expect a Ball jersey hanging up there one day, all right? Good.”
The high school phenom whose loudmouth father had made sure the entire basketball world knew the Ball name was now being described as the new face of one of the biggest franchises in world sport.
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THE NBA JOURNEY BEGINS…
Initially, the hype only grew.
Lonzo was named NBA Summer League MVP after averaging 16.3 points, 9.3 assists, 7.7 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game.
He recorded two triple-doubles and looked every bit like the player Lakers fans had spent months hearing about.
His rookie season, however, provided the first glimpse of what would eventually become one of the biggest issues of his career.
Staying on the court.
Injuries have played a major role in Lonzo Ball’s NBA career.Source: AFP
Lonzo played just 52 games as a rookie, missing 30 with shoulder and knee injuries.
By his second season, everything around him had changed.
The Lakers went out and signed LeBron James.
The franchise that had effectively handed Lonzo the keys were suddenly operating on an entirely different timeline.
There were still glimpses of what could have been.
Ball and James became the first Lakers teammates since Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1982 to both record triple-doubles in the same game.
But when you are the Lakers and you have LeBron James, waiting around isn’t really an option.
Following the 2018-19 season, Lonzo was packaged alongside Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and draft capital in the blockbuster trade which brought Anthony Davis to Los Angeles.
Just two years after being selected as the hometown kid who could one day have his jersey hanging from the rafters, Lonzo was gone.
Lonzo Ball was once viewed as one of the NBA’s most exciting young point guards.Source: AFP
He spent the next two seasons in New Orleans rebuilding his reputation, improving a jump shot which had been heavily criticised and reminding everyone why he had been taken with the No.2 pick.
Chicago was his next stop and for a brief period, it looked like Lonzo had finally found a home.
Once again, his body had other ideas.
A serious knee issue derailed his time with the Bulls and kept him away from NBA basketball for more than two years.
He eventually made his return, later spending time with the Cleveland Cavaliers before being traded to the Utah Jazz and waived following last season.
Now, the former No.2 overall pick who was once supposed to help lead the Lakers back to the top remains without an NBA contract.
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SO WHERE ARE THE OTHER TWO?
While Lonzo was dealing with his own NBA career, another Ball brother was coming.
LaMelo did things his own way.
He left high school basketball in the US, played professionally in Lithuania and eventually made his way to Australia, where he suited up in the NBL.
LaMelo Ball followed his brothers into professional basketball after spending time with the Illawarra Hawks in the NBL.Source: Getty Images
His season ‘Down Under’ with the Illawarra Hawks helped launch him towards the top of the 2020 NBA Draft, where Charlotte selected him with the third overall pick.
LaMelo became an NBA All-Star and signed a contract worth more than $200 million before eventually being traded to Minnesota this offseason.
Of the three brothers who were once supposed to take over basketball together, he is now the only one left in the NBA.
LiAngelo never got that same opportunity.
While playing for UCLA, Ball and two freshman teammates were arrested in Hangzhou, China after allegedly stealing sunglasses from a Louis Vuitton store.
The trio were eventually released and returned to the US after President Donald Trump intervened, but the incident became a major setback for LiAngelo.
Unlike his brothers, he was never selected in the NBA Draft.
He continued chasing the dream, including spending time in the NBA G League, but never established himself in the league before eventually stepping away from basketball in 2025 to focus on his music career.
LiAngelo Ball’s basketball career took a very different path to those of his brothers.Source: AFP
The vision LaVar had spent years selling never eventuated.
Lonzo, LiAngelo and LaMelo were supposed to take over the NBA… maybe even together in purple and gold if their father got his way.
Instead, Lonzo is looking for another opportunity, LiAngelo’s basketball career is over, and LaMelo carries the Ball name as the only brother still in the league.
That doesn’t make the Ball family a failure… far from it.
Two brothers were selected inside the top three of an NBA Draft, both became NBA stars at different stages and LaMelo remains on a contract worth more than $200 million.
For a period, you genuinely couldn’t escape them.
From Chino Hills and viral highlights to Big Baller Brand, reality television, top-three draft picks and seemingly never-ending headlines, they really were basketball’s Kardashians.
LaMelo Ball emerged as the biggest NBA star of the three brothers.Source: Getty Images
Almost a decade later, the Ball empire never quite became what LaVar told everyone it would.
But bloody hell, it was one hell of a ride.