LaMelo Ball is one of many players who has skipped college in order to make the NBA. Ball notably played a season in the NBL ahead of the 2020 NBA Draft. Skipping college certainly worked out for Ball, and there have been others who have succeeded by taking other routes to the league, such as joining the NBA one-year development program and playing for the G-League Ignite. Jonathan Kuminga and Jalen Green were both selected in the lottery going that route.
While obviously, Ball has been successful without going to school, he has recently made controversial comments about skipping school to play basketball, with part of his statement being “we don’t need school”. Obviously, that isn’t applicable to everyone, and you have to be a different kind of good to be able to do what LaMelo Ball did in regards to skipping college. Ball has since then clarified his comments, and it seems as though his message is more so that school isn’t for everybody.
LaMelo Ball clarifies stance on skipping college pic.twitter.com/f3D6dyuOWp
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) August 17, 2021
Let me rephrase… school not for everybody.
Now if you wanna be a doctor… better take that a** to school.
So please don’t be going to your mommas talking about some I don’t wanna do school “Melo said u don’t need it” when you not like that and not all the way invested in your Plan A, which in my case was the league.
There is no doubt that LaMelo Ball does recognize the usefulness of school for a lot of people, it just wasn’t the right path for him. Ball also warns people not to take the path of skipping college/school if they’re not “all the way invested” in their main plan, which for him was to make the NBA. It is true that not everyone can make the league, and a college degree is certainly a great backup plan.
