LaMelo Ball made headlines last week when he announced he’d be going back to high school and attending SPIRE Institute in Ohio. Now comes a bit of unwanted fallout from that decision, as La Lumiere School in La Porte, Indiana, has cancelled its game against SPIRE, which was scheduled for Tuesday evening.
La Lumiene School has cancelled the game due to the fact that Ball has played professionally.
“The scholar-athletes at La Lumiere School are here to prepare in every way for success at the college level,” the school said in a statement, per NWI.com’s Stan Maddux. “We aim to put together as competitive a schedule as possible for our team, but we have never played against a team whose roster included any players who have played at the professional level. With the recent news that someone who has played professionally intends to play for SPIRE Academy, we are not comfortable moving forward with our game slated for next Tuesday against SPIRE.”
Of course, Ball joined his brother, LiAngelo Ball, playing overseas with with Vytautas Prienu. He also played in his father’s league, the Junior Basketball Association, and caused a bit of trouble while he was there.
This isn’t the only issue Ball is facing following his decision to go back to high school. He’s reportedly been ruled ineligible to play in the McDonald’s All-American Game due to having played professionally.
One wonders his decision (or his father’s decision, if you will) to go pro will hurt his bid to play at the collegiate level, as well.