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Australian Basketball League Says Sale Of Illawarra Hawks To LaMelo Ball Not Complete

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The Australian NBL says the deal between the Illawarra Hawks and LaMelo Ball is not yet complete.

ESPN.com reported earlier Thursday that Ball, the potential No. 1 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, was set to buy the NBL franchise for which he played this past season.

“The league can confirm LaMelo Ball and his management had discussions about being involved with the club while he was playing in the NBL last season,” the NBL said in a statement.

 “At this point we are continuing to work with current licence holder Simon Stratford on a number of options for what we hope will be a fruitful outcome for Illawarra and the NBL.

“The NBL has final approval on any transfer of license and no application has been made to date. The NBL has no further comment at this stage.”

Jermaine Jackson, Ball’s manager who stayed with him in Australia this past season, told ESPN earlier Thursday: "We own the team. "It's a done deal."

The younger brother of New Orleans Pelicans point guard Lonzo Ball, LaMelo Ball averaged 17.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.0 assists in 12 games with the Hawks.

He was one of several American players who joined the league as part of their Next Stars program, along with fellow projected lottery pick R.J. Hampton.

"Melo loves the Illawarra fans," Jackson told ESPN. "He loves that community. They opened their arms to him. They made us feel like we are at home. When we started hearing about the issues they were going through, we talked about it and decided, 'Let's own the team.'

"He is going to be locked into his NBA career, but we are going to hire the right people to oversee everything. He wants to create the best basketball program possible for that community there."

Jackson told ESPN he expects more American players to want to join the NBL — and the Hawks — assuming Ball takes control.

"When high school kids hear LaMelo owns the team, they will want to come," Jackson said. "They'll know they will be taken care of. We're going to put the organization on steroids, building it into a program that guys want to play for. I'm in touch with several former NBA GMs that want to go there to help out and high-level coaches that won every championship you can imagine."

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