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Following Deion Sanders’ Path, LaVar Ball Puts His 24YO Son Above Ex-ROY Lamelo Ball: “Gelo Better Than Melo”

Published 10/15/2023, 9:37 PM EDT

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It must be hard for LaVar Ball to see his dream of having all his 3 sons play in the NBA fail, that he keeps hyping Gelo. While his eldest and youngest sons made it to the NBA, his middle son, LiAngelo, has been struggling to make it. But to his credit, LiAngelo has been putting up a brave fight. Regardless of whether Gelo makes it or not, he will always be in the limelight because of his father.

Coach Prime is a different beast. He has taken over Colorado Football and has turned it into a winner. And in that process, Deion Sanders has also impacted his sons’ careers. Once again, it is a story of a father who wants the best for his kids, just like LaVar Ball.

LaVar Ball – Kardashian of Football

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The Golden State Warriors’ coach, Steve Kerr, once called LaVar, the Kardashian of Basketball. And that would be an accurate description of the senior Ball who is as popular as his NBA star sons, LaMelo Ball and Lonzo Ball. To his credit, he has trained his kids to become NBA-worthy. But a thorn that keeps on pricking him would be his middle son, and that must be the reason he is not tiring out promoting Gelo. In the below video, LaVar declares “Gelo is better than Melo”, but is it going to help at all?

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Gelo was a three-star recruit. He was a reserve shooting guard with UCLA. And got suspended for his mischief in China. LaVar, seeing that UCLA would impose a lengthy suspension for Gelo, took him to play in Lithuania along with his youngest son LaMelo Ball.

Many criticized LaVar for being so high-handed in his approach. Yet, LaMelo’s game got noticed, and he even played in Australia before getting drafted into the NBA. However, Gelo remained stuck and went undrafted in 2018.

Only the Game gets noticed

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After many invites and training camp contracts, Gelo is in Greensboro Swarm, a G-League team associated with the Charlotte Hornets. Though he is getting minutes, he is not the star of the team and is not a regular starter.

The difference between Deion Sanders and LaVar Ball is that Coach Prime primarily focuses on the game, and lets it do the talking. And even when his eldest son gave up football and took to media, he had no qualms about it.

It is high time that LaVar does the same.

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Watch The Story: 1 Day Prior to Possible Bucks Debut, Damian Lillard Drops 2-Word Warning for the NBA

LaVar should allow Gelo to figure out his life, and if he makes it to the NBA, it would be because of his talent, not because of the hype.

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Written by:

Vinod Pillai

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Vinod is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. Having over six years of experience as a creative writer, he combines his passion for basketball with his love for journalism. Being an ardent fan of the NBA, he has been following & learning from reputed insiders & reporters such as Adrian Wojnarowski, Tim Legler, JJ Redick, Stephen A.
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Edited by:

Bilal Handoo