Danny Ainge Is Having A Hard Time Understanding Why Ball Family Left UCLA For Lithuania
BOSTON (CBS) -- There's never a dull moment when it comes to the Ball family.
While Lonzo Ball is seeing his way through some rookie struggles with the Lakers, his younger brothers LiAngelo and LaMelo are now heading overseas to Lithuania after their father, LaVar, made the curious decision to cut ties with UCLA (LaMelo was still in high school but committed to UCLA).
LaVar is now banking on his younger boys getting some quality playing time over in Europe to help boost their draft stock in the future, or something like that.
"I think it's a good situation because I thought of it," the elder Ball told The Washington Post about his decision.
Not many people understand the move, including Celtics president of basketball ops. Danny Ainge, who didn't turn down a chance to poke fun at Lavar when given an opportunity during his weekly appearance on 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich on Thursday.
"I didn't really understand leaving UCLA. It's a great program and they live right there in Los Angeles. I know [LiAngelo] got in trouble [in China], but Lithuania is a long ways away and it's not really a competitive league over there.
"To send young kids over to Europe, in general, you'd say that's a tough, tough place," said Ainge. "But this is a much lesser of a league. I don't know what their arrangement is, but I read they have a month buyout. So they can leave if they don't like it after a month, or if they're not getting enough three-point shot attempts.
"It's a bizarre situation, but entertaining nonetheless," Ainge added. "It's grabbing everyone's attention, but it doesn't sound like much fun for me.
"I guess the good thing is they'll be home schooled by LaVar," Ainge joked.
Ainge added that he's heard nothing but good things about Lonzo, who is averaging 8.9 points, seven assists and 6.9 rebounds for Los Angeles over his first 26 games in the NBA.