LiAngelo Ball has found quite a bit of success since quitting basketball in favor of his music career. According to him, making the switch was an easy call too. During a recent appearance on the BagFuel podcast, he opened up about his time in the NBA G League, admitting that it made him realize professional basketball wasn't the right path for him. When he got his first check from music, Ball said he didn't think twice.
"I was in the G League, that's 3K a month as a grown man," he explained, as captured by My Mixtapez on X. "When I got paid from music, it wasn't a hard decision. I wasn't contemplating like 'Damn I gotta hoop.'"
Amid the success of his viral hit "Tweaker," the athlete-turned-rapper scored a deal with Def Jam and Universal Music Group. Reportedly, the contract could be worth up to $13 million, with $8 million guaranteed. Clearly, this was a major step up financially from his G League stint.
LiAngelo Ball League of My Own
Ball unleashed his debut album in July, League of My Own, on which he addressed some ongoing drama in his personal life. As he continued to make headlines for his "Tweaker" success in February, the mother of his children Miss Nikki Baby took to social media to put him on blast.
In a lengthy post, she accused him of walking out on her and their kids to be with another woman, Rashida Nicole. She went on to criticize him in various scathing posts, even alleging that he abandoned their children. He denied this on multiple occasions, and proceeded to fire back in one of his songs.
"They kick me when I'm down, so can you pick me up? / Say I'm a deadbeat daddy who don't give no f*cks / Say I'm an ugly soul who just up and run / Talk to me dumb like I don't amount to nothin'," he raps on his track "Wine N Dine."