For the first time in their lives, Lonzo and Lamelo Ball will face off in an official basketball game.
The two Ball brothers, three years apart, have never faced off outside games and duels in the Ball’s backyard. Friday night’s competition between Lonzo’s New Orleans Pelicans and Lamelo’s Charlotte Hornets will be significant for both of them.
“I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Lonzo said Thursday. “This is the first time we’ve teamed up in a real game … I think it just shows that all the hard work was worth it. We’re very close, we grew up doing the same thing even though he’s younger than me.” .
The two brothers talked about backyard games as they grew up. Lonzo said he was always too big to play against Lamelo 1 on 1, but there were a lot of 2-on-2 or 3-on-3 games. He said Lamelo had to play against a bigger competition all his life, so he has entered his game today: he is not afraid of any opponent.
Lamelo said “no one took it easy” in the backyard.
“This is probably the most competitive basketball I’ve been in the backyard, back there fighting, scrapping, falling on concrete, playing hard,” Lamelo said Thursday. “Parents get scared when their kids play like that. It was a lot. Just something you had to witness, really.”
None of the brothers will try to create a chance to score each other when they get to the dolgui on Friday night. Instead, the two said they would do what their respective coaches ask them to do to get out and get the win.
Maybe the chat of the family group gets the truth, but Lamelo said that this is not about bragging.
“Everything is love. This is my brother,” Lamelo said. “We grew up together. You know our dad is very close to us. We spend every day together. We talk a lot with each other all the time now. He’s still my brother at the end of the day.” Lonzo and Lamelo played together for a year in high school, when Lonzo was a freshman and Lamelo was a freshman, along with his brother LiAngelo at Chinese Hills High School in California in 2015- 16. This team was undefeated and finished the season 35-0.
After that, the two took different paths to get to the NBA. While Lonzo followed the traditional route, playing for a season in UCLA, Lamelo chose to go abroad, playing for a season at Australian National Basketball League.
“Yeah, everyone has to find their own way,” said Lonzo, who is playing in his fourth season in the NBA. “Obviously I took the more traditional route. He didn’t. But at the end of the day, we both ended up where we wanted to be. Hard work is definitely worth it. No matter who you are, if you propose something that you could do. I really think so. It worked for me. It worked for him. “
Whether playing in the backyard, playing in Chinese Hills or any number of games the two have played in over the years, what they wanted to achieve has never changed, Lamelo said.
“The shots and everything has always been the same,” Lamelo said. “We knew we were going to the League, to be successful in the League and to be members of the Hall of Fame. That’s why we’re working now.”