Prienu Vytautas wants to offer LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball the biggest platform it’s able to construct.
The Lithuanian basketball team for which the Ball brothers will play in the coming months is trying to create a tournament, which it hopes will showcase their talent and provide them with more playing time than they’d otherwise receive, Prienu Vytautas general manager Adomas Kubilius told ESPN’s Jeff Goodman on Wednesday.
LiAngelo Ball, 19, and LaMelo Ball, 16 aren’t expected to feature immediately in Lithuanian league games. Instead, they’re more likely to play in Prienu Vytautas’ Baltic League games, perhaps as soon as the Jan. 9 matchup against against Tsmoki-Minsk.
“We’re discussing a new tournament now to play five games here in Prienai in our arena,” Kubilius told Goodman. “It would be with EuroLeague teams.
“We’re talking to teams like Zalgiris and CSKA Moscow about playing in it. It would be an opportunity for them to play more games, and play against players of similar age.”
The Ball brothers and their parents, LaVar and Tina Ball, arrived Wednesday at Lithuania’s largest airport to a wild scene, which included a throng of reporters and a live musical performance.
Their reception demonstrated the Ball family’s star power, and Kubiulius hopes to use them to raise his town’s and city’s respective profiles.
“Prienai is a small town and people still didn’t believe that they were actually coming,” Kubiulius said. “It will be an interesting time for all of us. It’s an opportunity for a little town to become known to the whole world.”
The possibility of more basketball for the Ball brothers represents a step in the direction of that goal.
