Is LaMelo Ball Trying To Start A Rivalry With Barstool By Becoming The Owner Of The NBL Team He Played For?

[Source] - “He (LaMelo) definitely expressed an interest with his manager. The world is in a different place now, so I don’t know if that is the case currently as I haven’t spoken to them about it. But they have expressed an interest. If Simon was not successful and the club came back to us, we would run a process to try and find the right owner.”

This is actually wildly intriguing to me. Everyone knows that LaMelo went over to Australia and played for the Illawarra Hawks instead of college or G League or anything like that. But, now he's looking at becoming an owner of the Hawks. It's rare to see a current athlete own any sort of other franchise. Well, except for a few athletes: 

That's right. Just a couple of athletes posing here with RJ Hampton - a soon to be first round pick in the NBA Draft. Matt Walsh, the CEO of the New Zealand Breakers and big time friend of the program. Oh and another guy named Big Cat, may have heard of him. He's the owner of the most electric horse race track in America - literally. 

So not only is he about to try to own a team that is in the same league, but LaMelo also has a history with Barstool - specifically Pat. Remember that random feud? This tweet sent Pat into about 15 anti-LaMelo blogs: 

So why is LaMelo trying to own his former team? Apparently they are struggling with the current ownership group falling apart and the NBL is about to step in and control the team. Remember what happened when the NBA controlled a team? That was fun. A little thing we like to call the Chris Paul trade. Or rather the Chris Paul trade that was nixed by the league that would have sent him to the Lakers. One of the bigger what-ifs in the NBA. 

Just know LaMelo that if you end up owning the Hawks, you're in for a rivalry. You may not like it or even want it, but we stand by our guys. Rivalry back on.