LiAngelo Ball is going to make his first ever NBA All-Star appearance but he won’t actually be taking part in the game.
The 26-year-old brother to LaMelo and Lonzo will instead be performing as part of the All-Star festivities on Saturday night.
Ball is expected to be taking to the stage at the weekend as his music continues to take off following the release of his song Tweaker.
He’s known as ‘GELO’ in the rap world and his latest track has blown up, becoming a viral sensation after appearing on a popular online stream.
Released in January, Tweaker now has 52million streams on Spotify and GELO has an incredible seven million monthly listeners on the site.
Iconic artist Lil Wayne has even featured on a remix, showing the levels it has reached.
Ball also signed a huge deal with Def Jam and Universal Music Group worth as much as $13million with $8million guaranteed.
So his new career path away from basketball is going very well and he’ll return to the court as a music artist rather than a player this weekend.
But how come he didn’t make it as a player just as his brothers did? talkSPORT.com takes a look…
Did LiAngelo Ball play in the NBA?
LiAngelo has never played a game in the NBA.
Eldest Ball brother Lonzo plays as a guard for the Chicago Bulls, while youngest brother LaMelo has quickly become a superstar for the Charlotte Hornets.
But Gelo failed to reach the heights of his siblings in the league.
He was a three-star recruit in high school and attended UCLA with Lonzo.
However, he was suspended while at the university in 2017 after an alleged theft during a team trip to China.
That may well have impacted his NBA Draft snub a year later in 2018 when he went undrafted and failed to make a team.
In comparison, Lonzo and LaMelo were both top-three picks in their draft classes.
He would go on to sign training camp deals in 2020 with the Detroit Pistons, then with the Hornets in 2021 and 2022 but never made a regular-season roster.
LiAngelo did play 31 games in NBA G League for the Greensboro Swarm, where he averaged 4.4 points, 1.1 rebounds and 13.1 minutes.
What team is LiAngelo Ball on now?
Ball is not currently signed to any basketball team.
He most recently played for Astros de Jalisco in Mexico at the end of 2024.
But he was reported to have left the team due to injury and he hasn’t played a professional game since then.
LiAngelo’s focus now seems to be on his music career instead.
And getting to perform at the All-Star Weekend is going to be a big moment to prove he has still been successful along with his brothers – albeit in a different industry.
