Nobody has taken LaMelo Ball’s winding path to the NBA, from undefeated high school teams in Chino Hills to Lithuania then through Australia.
Hornets center Bismack Biyombo relates as well as anyone; he had his own unique, winding path to the league. Born in Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (a struggling copper mining town), Biyombo traveled with friends to play professionally for the first time in Yemen, and then ended up in Spain before grabbing scouts’ attention at the 2011 Hoops Summit in Portland.
“I was telling LaMelo when I first got to the league I was his age because I came from overseas as well,” Biyombo said.