Ball brothers, LiAngelo and LaMelo, said to be taking their basketball talents to the small, poor Lithuanian town of Prienal, but no word of a contract makes the deal a mystery

Mini, old arena can seat 1,500, food concession has very little to offer, head coach known for his intensity on the sidelines, team is in last place, but here come the Balls

By Arnie Leshin

Welcome to Prienal, Lithuania, a small town on the banks of the Newman River, population estimated at around 9,000.

They play basketball there. It’s not much, but apparently they don’t mind playing in a drab, boxy building, capacity 1,500, on a sprawling plot of land.

The team, a financially struggling club known as the Prienal Birstown Vytautas, don’t win very often. Sometimes it shows up with only a handful of players.

The head coach, Virginijus Seskcus, 50, a fixture who some like to say constructed the arena so that there was a place to play. He’s known to show intensity on the sideline, and a droll manner away from the court. And he often points out that his English isn’t as poor as people think. Oh, and he sells meat out of the back of his car after practice.

But English, what does he need English for?

Enter the Ball brothers, 19-year-old LiAngelo and 16-year-old LaMelo. Their dad, LaVar, has made himself wealthy, has put together a radio talk show, and has become well known thanks to the basketball talents of his three sons, one of which is Lonzo, who plays for the NBA Los Angeles Lakers after one season at UCLA.

Lonzo isn’t going anywhere. The Lakers are the team that the Ball family grew up with, always wanting to play for them. But the family also had UCLA on the top of its college list, and not to forget Chino Hills High School in Southern California.

Chino Hills? All three Ball brothers played there, won a couple of national championships, were often on national television, but now, in LaMelo’s junior year, dad decided to cut short his All-America status and keep him at home with a private tutor.

LiAngelo was a different story after he was arrested for shoplifting while UCLA was in China to play some basketball. Regardless of LaVar mouthing off in negative terms when told that President Donald Trump was responsible for asking the president of China to release LiAngelo, it was done and UCLA followed up by suspending freshman LiAngelo and the two other shoplifting Bruins.

No practice, no traveling with the team, and no date on when they would be allowed to play.

As time went by and LiAngelo was becoming more upset each day he shot hoops in the school yard basket that didn’t even have a net, LaMar notified UCLA that LiAngelo was leaving the Bruins and that he was going to arrange for LiAngelo and LaMelo to play ball in Europe.

That brings us up to date, except for one thing, how did Prienal, Lithuania, become a part of this?

Well, the story goes that 21-year-old Lithuanian basketball journalist, Erikas Kirvelatis, learned about the Ball brothers’ interest in playing in Europe, so he decided to contact Harrison Gaines, a sports agent in Los Angeles with two semi-famous teenage clients: LiAngelo and LaMelo.

Through an unsolicited question via twitter, his message to Gaines was clear, simple and short. “Would LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball, by any chance, be interested in playing professional basketball in Prienal?”

Where? When? Who will pay to have them play there? For a place that can’t afford to rejuvenate its arena, which has a food concession that can’t afford more than a single table of snacks with wedges of fried bread. Now try to figure out how to pay the Ball brothers.

There’s been no mention of a contract, no mention referring to the money part, no mention of accommodations for the two, and nothing heard from LaVar. Despite this, the news has spread throughout Prienal and the rest of the nation.

They’re coming, the basketball players from the United States are coming, has been the talk. They are scheduled to arrive on Jan. 4, and perhaps even playing five days later. No doubt they’re not playing for nothing, but again, who is the payee on the contract, and for how much, and what have LaMar and his sons said about this?

There are bigger and better basketball leagues in Europe, most of the teams pay very well, there’s no problem with feeding or accommodating, but somehow, someway, the Ball brothers are actually going to play in Prienal, which is not on the outskirts of the world, but for a small town with financial problems, maybe there’s a sugar daddy picking up the tab.

For a family that cheered for all three of the brothers when they played for Chino Hills, for a family that had visions of all three playing for UCLA, and for a family that thought all three would someday play for the Lakers, its mindboggling to figure out how Prienal could afford the talented Ball brothers.

No doubt they will make the team better, will bring new excitement to the fans (1,500 capacity), might even make the newspaper if there’s one in town, and might even put Prienal on the map for something completely unexpected.

What remains is for the Ball brothers to take the court, and it won’t be for free. Tough to figure this one out, but don’t expect them to have a ball here.