LaVar Ball, who withdrew his son from college, wants to start a paid basketball league for players who don't go to college

LaVar Ball.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Big Baller Brand apparently has bigger aims than basketball shoes. ESPN reported Wednesday that LaVar Ball — the braggadocious father of Los Angeles Lakers point guard Lonzo Ball — wants to create a league called the Junior Basketball Association for high school basketball players who don't want to go to college.

In 2005, the NBA banned the drafting of high school players, leading to the "one-and-done" phenomena in which top recruits dutifully attend college for a single year before turning pro. LaVar Ball said that players with NBA dreams should not be forced into college — especially if they can make money professionally instead.

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Kelly O'Meara Morales is a staff writer at The Week. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and studied Middle Eastern history and nonfiction writing amongst other esoteric subjects. When not compulsively checking Twitter, he writes and records music, subsists on tacos, and watches basketball.