LaVar Ball's family circus arrived in Lithuania and 'chaos' ensued
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Give LaVar Ball this: He knows how to create a circus, and this time the show is going global.
The braggadocious father of Los Angeles Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball arrived in Lithuania on Wednesday with his two other sons, LaMelo and LiAngelo, who he respectively pulled out of UCLA and high school to pursue professional basketball careers in Europe. And Lithuanians couldn’t get enough of the Balls.
The scene outside the baggage claim door — awaiting the Ball family. pic.twitter.com/d8Z6No7Gar
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) January 3, 2018
Media, fans and Lithuanians who just wanted to see what all the fuss was about packed the airport:
That was an insane scene when LaVar came through the doors. Photographers equipment spilled to the ground, media members falling down. One media person asked me if it was LeBron or Michael Jordan coming? I just laughed.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) January 3, 2018
When the Balls arrived, Lavar led the plunge into the crowd, signing autographs and basking in the flashing lights of countless cameras, as his two teenage sons — the ones who will be playing for small-town Prienu Vytautas in the Lithuanian Basketball League — lagged behind to less initial fanfare.
They are here: @LiAngeloBall, @MELOD1P and @Lavarbigballer have touched down in Lithuania. Now, it's time to ball! #betsafeLKL pic.twitter.com/wBG1Y8dhrY
— Betsafe LKL (@betsafeLKL) January 3, 2018
Insane. Ball family came to Lithuania, Absolute chaos in Vilnius airport pic.twitter.com/vZALO33BSw
— Donatas Urbonas (@Urbodo) January 3, 2018
LaMelo looks thrilled.
Kudos to the musician serenading them with the lyrics, “Welcome to Lithuania, the land of beautiful ladies.” That had to get LaMelo and LiAngelo pretty pumped about the experience, even if they were still caught up in the crowd as their dad yelled “Big Baller” something and got into an awaiting bus.
Chaos in airport after Ball family landed in Vilnius pic.twitter.com/JXxKKDVB1d
— Donatas Urbonas (@Urbodo) January 3, 2018
Prior to departing from Los Angeles, TMZ Sports caught up with LaVar, and they shared this exchange:
“We’ll go over there [to Lithuania] for a hot minute just to let ’em know before these boys get on the Lakers.”
LaVar says he expects his boys to dominate overseas — but for “less than a couple years” before returning to L.A. to sport the Purple and Gold.
Ball told us he plans on staying in Lithuania for a couple of weeks to get his boys set up in their new home … but if he likes it, he might buy a new home over there — or as he calls it, “Big Baller house!”
Sure. Hey, it’s nice to see the United States isn’t alone in its odd obsession with the Ball family circus.
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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach
