Getty Image / Anthony Au-Yeung
LaMelo Ball is towards the top of most 2020 NBA Mock Drafts and his latest performance is proof that he should be in the discussion for the top overall pick. There are reasons franchises should go in another direction with the No. 1 pick, but then again, if the pieces fall in the right place Ball could be the first player called this year.
Ball is currently playing in the National Basketball League in Australia after electing not to take the college route and instead make money while developing his game for the NBA. All he’s done while playing for the Illawarra Hawks, besides hit a massive growth spurt to reach six-foot-seven, is average 14.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 6.1 assists.
Those numbers are only going to improve, too, after he became the youngest player in league history to post a triple-double going for 32 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds on Monday.
🚨 LaMelo Ball Triple-Double 🚨
With this assist, LaMelo Ball now has 24 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists. He is the youngest player to have a triple-double in NBL history.#NBL20 #CNSatILL pic.twitter.com/eSWzLGEUgx
— NBL (@NBL) November 25, 2019
There’s no arguing that the talent among a majority of the top teams in college is better than every team in the NBL, but if Ball continues to post these sorts of numbers then an NBA team will absolutely select him within the first few picks this offseason. More specifically, if the team with the top pick needs a point guard it could be tough for that team not to take him No. 1 overall.
When it comes to point guards in the 2020 class, Ball leads the group among the likes of R.J. Hampton of New Zealand Breakers and Cole Anthony of North Carolina. Memphis’ James Wiseman is expected to go No. 1 overall, but his suspension does nothing but help the case for Ball.
The biggest advantage for Ball is his size. At 6-foot-7 he has a couple of inches on both Hampton and Anthony plus if you add in the fact he’ll have a couple of seasons of professional basketball under his belt (at different levels) it could prove to be only more enticing for a team to take him with the first pick.
Ball’s shooting form is broken just like his brother Lonzo’s, but if he can continue to develop his jumper and show off his playmaking abilities along the way then he could turn into a legitimate point guard at the NBA level.
It could be a risk for a team to take him with the first pick, but if it turns out to be a team in desperate need of a quality sized point guard then Ball’s name will at the very least be in the discussion.