LiAngelo Ball Signs with Blue

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, LiAngelo Ball is signing with the Oklahoma City Blue. The Deal will be completed via a waiver claim. Ball has been practicing with the Blue since signing back on December 29th.

There are only 10 games left in Oklahoma City's season,, and the Blue has yet to announce anything officially. The last time Ball played in a game was for the Los Angeles Ballers of the Junior Basketball Association.

The JBL was a league founded by his father, LaVar, as an alternative to college basketball. In his debut with the Ballers in July of 2018, LiAngelo scored 53 points, with 10 rebounds and 10 assists. During his time in the JBL, Ball scored 58 points twice and was named the JBL Finals MVP.

LiAngelo Ball is signing with the NBA G League’s Oklahoma City Blue via waiver claim, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 7, 2020

He entered the NBA draft in 2018 but was not selected. Ball withdrew from UCLA after he received an indefinite suspension from the program for being involved in a shoplifting incident with two other Bruins during a trip to China.

Ball had ankle surgery last July, but you would have to think he's healthy or the Thunder aren't going to make this move. It will be fun to watch how much of an impact Ball has during his time with the Blue. And if he can do enough to get the attention of Sam Presti to earn a spot on the Thunder's Summer League team, and maybe an invite to training camp.

Neither of those tasks is going to be easy, and you're going to have to be more impressive then guys like Markel Brown and DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell, who have been working with the Blue a lot longer than Ball has.

Thunder Strikes:

Joe Mussatto of the Oklahoman is reporting that the grandmother of one of Danilo Gallinari friends has died from coronavirus. In Gallinari's home country of Italy, there have been more than 4,600 cases of coronavirus reported with 197 fatalities.