The Illawarra Hawks' "once-in-a-generation" guard arrived to the cameras and a handful of fans chasing selfies.
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But the Ball family standard, it was a low key arrival in Australia, landing in Sydney before finding his feet in his new home in Wollongong, for the coming summer anyway.
LaMelo Ball, hoping to be the NBA's No.1 draft pick next year, will launch his professional career with the Hawks, on NRL grand final day of all days, after a showing what he is capable of in the American Drew League.
His coach, Gary Clark, took to social media this week to declare Ball a special talent, who can justify the hype in the NBL and NBA.
"Throughout the summer it was easy to forget that he's JUST a kid," Clark, coach of No Schnacks in the Drew League, a Los Angeles based tounrnament involving streetball stars and professional talent, wrote on instagram.
"As the competition gets better his game and confidence will only grow. Rather he's the #1 pick or not is irrelevant. It's my firm opinion that the #NBA team that drafts him next year will be getting a once in a generation point guard."
Signing Ball, as part of the NBL's Next Stars program to lure future NBA talent, has brought world-wide attention to the Illawarra Hawks, the perennial battlers of Australian basketball.
His brother Lonzo has been traded from the Los Angeles Lakes to New Orleans, while father Lavar oversees a Big Baller Brand clothing and shoe company and Kardashian-style social media reality show.
This week, the Hawks announced basketball media giant SLAM will be the front-of-jersey sponsor for the upcoming season, because of the Ball phenomenon.
Under new head coach, a long-time Hawks assistant, Matt Flinn, the Hawks' NBL campaign begins against Brisbane on October 6 at WIN Entertainment Centre, to be televised on SBS.
The NBL Blitz will be held in Tasmania from September 19-22.
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