LaMelo Ball got ejected for slapping a Lithuanian player during a JBA game
The scuffle happened early in the third quarter. LaMelo and Susinskas were ejected.
LaMelo Ball doing his best Rick James impersonation with the Lithuanian Charlie Murphy. pic.twitter.com/JYos8uBLnI
— David Astramskas (@redapples) October 1, 2018
Things got chippy real fast between LaMelo Ball and Lithuanian player Mindaugas Susinskas!
The JBA, or Junior Basketball Association, is LaVar Ball’s newly-former basketball league that features young talent who are looking to make a name for themselves outside of the collegiate ecosystem. Both of his sons LaMelo and LiAngelo play for the league as well as for their national team dubbed JBA USA which played in Lithuania on Monday.
But the game went from typical exhibition to scuffle early in the third quarter. As the younger LaMelo missed a layup in the key and, he seemed to have shoved Mindaugas Susinskas on his way down. It’s unclear whether he did that intentionally or if he did it to avoid falling. According to the JBA announcers, Ball was asking the official for a foul call when Susinskas slapped Ball in the back of the head. Ball retaliated with a slap of his own, this one to the face, and that’s when the two started scuffling. Both teams rushed to separate the two players.
As a result, both Susinskas and Ball were ejected from the game. And while the JBA USA team held a 15-point lead when the scuffle happened, they lost by a score of 124-116 to Alytaus Dzukija of the LKL. Susinskas had 3 points in the game while Ball ended his night with 15, so the ejections proved to be costly for the JBA squad.
The scuffle between the two may have been brewing throughout the game. For example earlier in the third quarter, Susinskas stole the ball from LaMelo, causing him to fall. But Ball got up quickly enough for a block from behind that may have aggressive enough to consider it retaliatory, Susinskas looked at the officials as though he was asking for a call, then consulted his teammates about it. There was no call but the frustration from that play looked palpable on both ends.
There’s no word yet on whether either player will face more discipline as a result of the scuffle.