LaMelo Ball Picked Third in NBA Draft by Charlotte

History has been made with NBL Next Star LaMelo Ball selected with the third pick in today’s NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets.

Ball becomes the highest drafted player to go directly from the NBL to the NBA. He averaged 17.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.0 assists for the Illawarra Hawks last season and won the NBL’s Rookie of the Year award.

The 19-year-old says the experiences he has had in his basketball journey, including playing in the NBL, has helped prepare him for what is set to be an exciting NBA career.

“I feel like my previous experiences made me who I am today,” Ball said.

“I feel like it’s going to be fun. I’m definitely excited. We got a young team, so I feel like it’s going to be nice. I’m just letting it all hit me right now, but I am ready to play and lace them up.”

The Hornets are owned by basketball legend Michael Jordan and when asked about playing under Jordan’s ownership, Ball said it was “straight blessings for real”.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">From the NBL to the 3rd pick in the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBADraft?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBADraft</a> <br><br>Congratulations to LaMelo Ball (<a href="https://twitter.com/MELOD1P?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MELOD1P</a>), the newest member of the <a href="https://twitter.com/hornets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@hornets</a> ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBLxNBA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBLxNBA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBLNextStars?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBLNextStars</a> got NEXT! ? <a href="https://t.co/HjK874JlvJ">pic.twitter.com/HjK874JlvJ</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1329234095944081411?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 19, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>