LiAngelo Ball's Going International Since He'll Have No Choice

College isn't for everyone.

LaVar Ball, for instance, probably coulda made better use of his time than averaging 2.2 points and 2.3 boards from the Washington State Univeristy bench.

A higher education was apparently gonna be a necessary evil for Ball Son No 2 -- aka LiAngelo -- but not any more.

Pops has -- laughingly but predictably -- decided that he can do a better job preparing LiAngelo for the pros than UCLA.

The Bruins are high-fivin' this development for more reasons than money.

LiAngelo woulda been a decent Division I player, but dude was clearly a legacy recruit. His dad pulling the plug for him ...

• frees up a scholarship for UCLA,
• frees up playing time for someone else, and
• means a reduced Aleve budget, since they don't have a LaVar Rule like the Lakers do.

It's actually tragic that the OG thinks his kid's one-&-done material. Then again, he thinks shoplifting's not worthy of a suspension.

It'll dawn on him sooner or later that LiAngelo's none-&-done. Literally.

Ex-UCLA freshman LiAngelo Ball has no chance that he'll be drafted in June — and that was true before his shoplifting incident in China. "He's not on any of our scouting lists — even the extended lists," one GM told ESPN. — Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 4, 2017

Seems like his only hope woulda been a few years with college coaches like Steve Alford, who's handled an interesting father-son situation of his own while putting at least ten players in the NBA.

Ball will struggle to find a serious job playing pro basketball, including the G-League. @Mike_Schmitz projected him in high school as a small-ball stretch 4-man at the mid-major college level. Would make sense for Ball to find a scholarship at a lower level and stay in school. — Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 4, 2017

The problem is, you can't put LaVar Ball and making sense in the same sentence, unless a verb like removed is in there somewhere.

And speaking of somewhere, if the assessment that LiAngelo's not G-League material, then good luck going high-profile in Europe. The three top national leagues there -- Spain, Serbia, and France -- are better, and it wouldn't be a stretch to extend that list.

Unless he was willing to expand his role for the team, maybe.

On the bright side, even the second-level leagues in Europe have better cities for life experiences than, say, Dry Heaves, Nevada.

What's more, a foreign assignment might give LiAngelo what he needs most: time away from Pops to learn that actions really do have consequences.