As a high school senior at
Chino Hills High School in 2016, Ball was awarded multiple national high school player of the year honors, and led his team to an undefeated record, as well as a national championship.
[2][3] As a college freshman in 2016–17, he led the nation in
assists and broke the UCLA record for most assists in a season. He also won the
Wayman Tisdale Award as the top freshman in the nation.
Ball started playing basketball at the age of two.
[1] He grew up with his younger brothers,
LiAngelo and
LaMelo. Until they reached high school, the trio played together on teams coached by their father.
[5] Ball played basketball at Chino Hills High School in
Chino Hills, California.
[4] As a junior in 2014–15, he averaged 25
points, 11
rebounds, 9.1
assists, 5
blocks, and 5
steals.
[7] In his senior year, he led the school to a 35–0 record and a state title, and the Huskies were ranked the consensus No. 1 team in the nation.
[8][9] His younger brothers, junior LiAngelo and freshman LaMelo, were also on the team.
[10] Ball averaged a
triple-double with averages of 23.9 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 11.7 assists per game.
[4] He received national honors including the
Naismith Prep Player of the Year,
[2][3] Morgan Wootten National Player of the Year,
[11] USA Today Boys Basketball Player of the Year,
[12] and
Mr. Basketball USA.
[13]
Ball was rated as a consensus five-star recruit by major scouting services.
[14] In November 2015, he signed a
National Letter of Intent to attend the
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and play for the
Bruins.
[15] As a freshman in
2016–17, he was one of 50 players named to the preseason watch list for the
John R. Wooden Award, given annually to the top college player in the nation.
[16] Ball's vision and passing skills led UCLA's rise up the national rankings,
[17] as he and fellow freshman
T. J. Leaf helped the Bruins bounce back from a 15–17 record from the
year before.
[18] Ball led the nation in assists and transformed the Bruins into the top scoring offense in the country.
[19] In his first collegiate game against
Pacific, he had 19 points, 11 assists, and eight rebounds. Later in the year, Ball was named the MVP of the
Wooden Legacy tournament, after he led UCLA to a win over
Texas A&M in the championship game.
[20] He remained on the Wooden Award list in midseason, when he was also joined by Leaf, as UCLA was one of just five schools with two candidates on the list.
[21]
In a 107–66 blowout win against the
Washington Huskies, Ball had 22 points, six rebounds, and five assists.
[22] With close to two dozen NBA executives in attendance, the game matched Ball against the Huskies'
Markelle Fultz, who were among the nation's top point guards and projected to be among the top picks in the
2017 NBA draft.
[22][23] Fultz scored 25 points in an even matchup between the two freshmen.
[22] In the Bruins' regular season finale, Ball had a career-high 14 assists in a 77–68 win over
Washington State, when he also broke
Gary Payton's 30-year-old
Pac-12 season record for assists by a freshman.
[24][25] UCLA was seeded No. 3 in the
NCAA Tournament, and won their opening game 97–80 over
Kent State. Ball had 15 points and three assists to surpass
Larry Drew II's school record for most assists in a season.
[26] In the second round, he flirted with a triple-double with 18 points, seven rebounds, and nine assists in a 79–67 win over
Cincinnati.
[27] All of his assists came in the second half, when UCLA overcame a three-point halftime deficit after scoring a season-low 30 points in the first half.
[28] The Bruins were eliminated in the Sweet 16, losing 86–75 to
Kentucky. Ball had 10 points, eight assists, and four turnovers in the loss, while Wildcats point guard
De'Aaron Fox scored 39 points for an NCAA tournament freshman record. Ball strained his
hamstring in the game and was limping in the second half, but did not offer it as an excuse for being outplayed.
[29][30] After the game, he announced that he would declare for the
2017 NBA draft, where he was generally projected to be a top-3 pick.
[29]
For the season, Ball averaged 14.6 points, 7.6 assists, and 6.0 rebounds. He was the only player in the nation to average at least 14 points, six assists, and six rebounds, and was the first player in the conference since
California's Jason Kidd in 1993–94 to average at least 14 points, seven assists, and six rebounds.
[31][32] His 274 assists also passed Kidd (272) for the second-most in a season by a Pac-12 player, behind only Ahlon Lewis (294) of
Arizona State in
1997–98.
[33] Ball made 55.1 percent of his
field goal attempts and 41.2 of his
three-point attempts to become the first
NCAA Division I player since 1992–93 to make at least 70 percent from 2-point range and 40 percent from 3-point range.
[34][35] He was a unanimous first-team
All-American, earning honors from the
Associated Press,
[36] United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA),
[37] National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC),
[38] and
Sporting News.
[39]Additionally, he was awarded the
Wayman Tisdale Award by the USBWA as the top freshman in the nation.
[40] Ball was the only freshman to be a finalist for the Wooden Award,
Naismith College Player of the Year, and
Oscar Robertson Trophy.
[19][37][41] He was also voted
Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and was named first-team
All-Pac-12 along with teammates Leaf and
Bryce Alford.
[32] He also received honorable mention for the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team.
Professional career
Los Angeles Lakers (2017–present)
On June 22, 2017, Ball was selected with the second overall pick in the
2017 NBA draft by the
Los Angeles Lakers.
[43] On July 3, he signed a four-year rookie scale contract with the Lakers.
[44] During the
2017 NBA Summer League in
Las Vegas, Ball was named the league MVP after averaging 16.3 points, 9.3 assists, 7.7 rebounds, 2.5 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game. He had two triple-doubles, the first in Vegas since 2008 and the first ever in Vegas by a rookie.
[45][46] He had four games with 10 or more assists, becoming the first in league history to have more than 10 assists in more than one game; his 9.3 assist average was also a league record.
[47][48]
In his second game on October 20, 2017, he scored a career-high 29 points, to go along with 11 rebounds and 9 assists in a 132–130 win against the
Phoenix Suns, falling one assist shy of becoming the youngest player to notch a triple double in NBA history.
[49] In the following contest, he had eight points, eight rebounds, and 13 assists in a 119–112 loss to the
New Orleans Pelicans, becoming the youngest player in franchise history to get at least 10 assists in a game.
[50] On November 11, he recorded 19 points, 13 assists, and 12 rebounds in a 98–90 loss against the
Milwaukee Bucks, becoming the youngest player to achieve a triple-double at the age of 20 years and 15 days old, breaking
LeBron James's record by five days. Leading up to the game, Bucks' coach
Jason Kidd, who Ball is often compared to, had called it "a stretch" to compare the two since it was too early in Ball's career.
[51] Ball, who had struggled with his shooting over the first 12 game and achieved the second lowest first 12-game
field goal percentage (29.2%) in the shot clock era (since 1954),
[52] made over 50% of his field goals in a game for the first time in his career during the triple double.
[53][54] On November 19, he recorded his second triple-double with 11 points, 16 rebounds, and 11 assists in a 127–109 win over the
Denver Nuggets. It was the most rebounds by an NBA rookie guard since
Steve Francis had 17 in 1999–2000.
[55] He also joined fellow NBA rookie
Ben Simmons, as well as
Magic Johnson,
Connie Hawkins,
Art Williams, and
Oscar Robertson as the only players to record multiple triple-doubles within the first 20 games of their NBA careers.
[56] Ball missed the team's
Christmas game after spraining his left shoulder in the previous contest against the
Portland Trail Blazers, and he was expected to be out for at least a week. His shooting had improved to 34.9 percent from the field and 29.7 percent on three-pointers after having made 44 percent of his field goals and 44.2 percent of his three-pointers in the seven games prior to the injury.
[57] He would make his return to action on January 5, 2018 against the
Charlotte Hornets.
[58]
Player Profile
Ball has an unorthodox
jump shot whereby he moves the ball from his left hip to the left of his forehead. He rotates his right elbow in toward his chest until it reaches a 45-degree angle, when he shoots the ball towards the basket.
[59][60][61] He prefers to shoot jumpers while moving towards his left.
[59][61][62]
Ball began shooting in games from 40 feet (12 m) deep since he was a pre-teen.
[61] In college, he shot 3-pointers from beyond the NBA line, which was 4 feet (1.2 m) longer than the 19-foot-9-inch (6.02 m) college line. His go-to shot with time expiring was a step-back 3-pointer from deep.
[63]
