CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- LaMelo Ball grew up playing 3-on-3 games against his older brother Lonzo on a concrete court in the backyard of their parents' home in Chino Hills, California.
''Nobody took it easy on me - fighting, scrapping, falling on concrete,'' LaMelo said. ''Parents would get scared when their kids went back there. It was something you had to witness for real.''
That is where the Ball brothers learned to compete - and first dreamed of playing in the NBA.
On Friday night, they'll make history becoming the first siblings selected in the top three of the NBA draft to compete against each other when Lonzo's Pelicans host the rookie LaMelo's Hornets in New Orleans.