LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball have reportedly signed professional contracts with a European team, just like LaVar Ball promised, and their destination is ... Lithuanian minnow Prienu Vytautas? Adrian Wojnarowski and Jonathan Givony first reported that talks were serious this afternoon and Woj protege Shams Charania reported the signings before agent Harrison Gaines confirmed the news to Jeff Goodman.
Vytautas finished sixth in the Lithuanian league last year, though they won the less competitive Baltic League. The 16-year-old LaMelo and the 19-year-old LiAngelo will reportedly head over in January. According to Woj, the brothers will see most of their playing time in the Baltic League, and there are plenty of reasons to think that Vytautas is primarily signing the two teens for marketing reasons. They are apparently having serious financial problems, and they reportedly have no general manager and can’t afford to host practices.
As for Prienai itself, it’s a 10,000-person town on the Neman River in southern Lithuania. The team plays in an arena with a capacity of 1,700 and the language barrier looks to be a serious obstacle. Lithuania in January probably isn’t as nice as UCLA, but hey, at least the two brothers will make a tiny amount of money playing front of hundreds of fans. Congratulations to the big ballers.