Former NBA player discusses impact of LaMelo Ball potentially joining Clippers

The LA Clippers are always going to be in the mix to land certain big-name players in the NBA purely based off their geographic location. Los Angeles is an extremely desirable place to live for many professional athletes for a variety of reasons, and the Clippers naturally land in a lot of conversations when it comes to future destinations for players.

Recently, we saw LaMelo Ball's father, LaVar, share that he wants his All-Star son to play for the Clippers. In a September 2024 interview, LaVar ambitiously stated that he hopes for all three of his sons to end up with the organization.

"I want them all to play for the Clippers ... Come on, trade Melo over there to the Clippers," he said. Of course, with LaMelo being from Southern California and having played for Chino Hills High School, it makes a lot of sense that his father would like to have him back home.

This scenario becoming reality is obviously pretty far-fetched. The Charlotte Hornets are not looking to move off LaMelo anytime soon, so the Clippers would have to put together an outrageous trade package for their Eastern Conference foes to even begin considering the idea.

Chandler Parsons discussed the idea of Ball playing for the Clippers

However, that fact has not stopped pundits from discussing the outlook on what LaMelo Ball on the Clippers would look like in a hypothetical situation. Appearing on FanDuel TV, Chandler Parsons shared his opinions on the matter.

"Now listen, you put [LaMelo] on the Clippers, you put him in a big market right now, I think we're talking about a whole different player," said Parsons. "Just based on his opportunity that the TV time this guy's gonna get. The average person doesn't know who LaMelo Ball is because the Charlotte Hornets have been historically bad."

This comment drew a smirk from his co-host, former Clipper Lou Williams. Lou would proceed to push back on Parsons' comment, saying that the average person does know who LaMelo Ball is, regardless of the Hornets' winning percentage. I would generally agree with Williams here, as LaMelo would certainly get something of a media bump from playing in a bigger market, but his personal brand is already extremely strong. No NBA player age 25 or under has more Instagram followers than Ball.

It is certainly safe to say that despite the unlikelihood of it becoming a reality, the Clippers would benefit massively from LaMelo's services. They are a team that is aging fast, with some young talent but not nearly enough to keep them in contention once Norman Powell, Kawhi Leonard and James Harden are all out of the picture. In the improbable scenario Ball becomes a Clipper, LA could redeem the opportunity they lost when they traded Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and finally roster a young superstar point guard.