Lithuanian coach throws shade at Ball family over departure

In an interview with Lithuanian outlet 15min.lt this week, BC Vytautas head coach Virginijus Seskus shaded the Balls over their early exit from his team.

“It’s just another proof they came here to make a show, not for basketball,” said Seskus, per Chris Haynes of ESPN. “It’s sad they didn’t understand what we gave them. We understand how they helped us, but they don’t.”

Ball brothers LiAngelo and LaMelo had been playing for Vytautas, a pro team in the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL), since January. However, Haynes adds that the brothers are both injured and that their departure, which comes with two games left in the LKL season, had the approval of the team.

19-year-old LiAngelo, who has his eyes on the 2018 NBA Draft, was only expected to play the one season for Vytautas all along. However, 16-year-old LaMelo was expected to remain with the team for at least another season.

For his part, LaVar Ball settled any doubt by saying flat-out that LaMelo would not be returning to Vytautas for another year after all.

“You really ask me this?” LaVar said, also to 15min.lt, upon being asked about his youngest son’s future in Lithuania. “Coach ruined everything, and he’ll have to pay the price that Melo is not coming back.”

LaVar’s contentious relationship with Seskus has been a key subject in Season 2 of his family’s Facebook reality series “Ball in the Family.” LaVar strongly disagreed with Seskus’ slow-paced style as well as his tendencies to bring the brothers off the bench and/or to play them one at a time instead of together.

The Ball family now returns home to Los Angeles to plot their next move, and it is obvious by now that they sure know how to make a grand exit.