Background and career
LiAngelo Robert "Gelo" Ball (born November 24, 1998) is an American rapper and former professional basketball player. He is the second son of Big Baller Brand founder LaVar Ball and brother to NBA guards Lonzo and LaMelo Ball. While a junior at Chino Hills High School in Chino Hills, California, Ball won a state championship alongside his brothers – all three achieved celebrity status through their family's Facebook Watch reality show Ball in the Family. Having become a three-star recruit and UCLA signee, a 2017 suspension for shoplifting led him to forgo college basketball. Instead, he joined Lithuanian professional team Prienai alongside LaMelo and played in the Junior Basketball Association (JBA), a league founded by his father, before entering the NBA G League at the end of the 2019–20 season. Ball was briefly on the Detroit Pistons roster in late 2020, but was waived prior to the start of the 2020–21 season. He then signed for the Greensboro Swarm, the satellite team of LaMelo's Charlotte Hornets, in 2021 – another hiatus and a brief tenure on CIBACOPA side Astros de Jalisco followed. Afterwards, Ball ventured into hip hop music with the stage name GELO, releasing his debut single "Tweaker" in 2025 that charted in several countries, and then agreeing to a multi-million dollar record deal with Def Jam. He confirmed his full retirement from basketball in August 2025.
Ball is the second son of LaVar Ball and Tina Ball (née Slatinsky), who are both former college basketball players. The 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m) tall LaVar played for Washington State and Cal State Los Angeles, while Tina, who stands 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m), also played with the latter school. His father later played professional football as a tight end for the London Monarchs of the World League of American Football. In his childhood, Ball often played basketball against older opponents, facing teams of fourth- and fifth-graders while in kindergarten. He started working out and training by age four and first competed with both of his brothers, Lonzo and LaMelo, at age six. As a seven-year-old, he also began playing flag football with his brothers. While Lonzo was a quarterback, LiAngelo and LaMelo caught passes. On the basketball court, LiAngelo grew up playing with his brothers on Big Ballers VXT, an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) under-17 team created by their father and coached by both parents.
Ball played basketball for four years at Chino Hills High School in his hometown Chino Hills, California. As a freshman, he started alongside his older brother, Lonzo. Ball helped Chino Hills reach its first-ever CIF Southern Section Open Division championship game. Chino Hills fell in overtime to Centennial High School at the Southern California Regional Division I final. As a sophomore, Ball was teammates with his brother, Lonzo, and his cousin, Andre Ball. He suffered a foot injury before the season and missed a tournament at Fairfax High School in June 2014. On September 14, he scored 35 points with seven three-point field goals to win the Ron Massey Memorial Fall Hoops Classic. In December 2014, Ball scored 53 points in a 111–80 win over Dorsey High School. At the end of the season, Ball was sidelined for four games with an ankle sprain but returned for the playoffs. His team lost at the CIF State Division I championship game. After the season, on April 21, he verbally committed to play college basketball for UCLA.
In his junior season, Ball played with both Lonzo and LaMelo. In December 2015, Ball scored 32 points to upset top-ranked Montverde Academy in the City of Palms Classic quarterfinals. He scored 40 points in a semifinal win over High Point Christian Academy and won the tournament. Against Jonesboro High School at the MaxPreps Holiday Classic, Ball scored 41 points. On February 11, he led all scorers with 32 points against Etiwanda High School, as Chino Hills finished the regular season with a 27–0 record. On March 5, 2016, he scored 31 points to win the CIF Southern Section Open Division title over Sierra Canyon School. On March 26, he had 18 points to win the Open Division title over De La Salle High School. As a junior, Ball averaged 27.4 points per game, which led his team. His team finished 35–0 and was named mythical national champion by MaxPreps, who also labeled their title run "perhaps the best brother act in high school basketball history."
On November 29, Ball scored 56 points in a 121–89 win over Lutheran High School of Orange County. In his following game, which was played on the next day, Ball scored a career-high 72 points with 13 three-pointers in a 128–108 victory over Rancho Christian School, the tenth-most points scored in a single game in California high school history. On December 26, he scored 65 points in a Rancho Mirage Holiday Invitational win over Foothill High School. On January 20, 2017, Ball scored 60 points in a 136–93 win over Los Osos High School. Seven days later, he registered 52 points and 10 three-pointers in a victory against Damien High School. His team fell in the CIF Southern Section Open Division semifinals to Bishop Montgomery High School. After a 30–3 season, he was named All-Area Player of the Year by The San Bernardino Sun and Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. Ball was also a first-team All-State and honorable mention All-American selection by MaxPreps. In addition, he averaged 33.8 points per game as a senior, leading the state of California in scoring.
Ball was a consensus three-star recruit. 247Sports.com ranked him outside of their top-200 recruits nationally and as the 50th-best shooting guard in his class. Having already committed to play for the UCLA Bruins as a high school sophomore, Ball signed a letter of intent on November 2, 2016, and enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles on June 1, 2017. He was projected to be a reserve for during his 2017–18 freshman season for UCLA. He played his only game with the Bruins in the preseason on November 1, 2017, against NCAA Division II team Cal State Los Angeles, scoring 11 points. On November 7, 2017, days before UCLA's regular season opener against Georgia Tech overseas in Shanghai, Ball and two other freshman teammates were arrested in Hangzhou for allegedly stealing sunglasses from a Louis Vuitton store at a high-end shopping center near their team hotel. The trio potentially faced a fine and three to ten years in prison but were soon released from custody; Ball and his teammates thanked President Donald Trump for helping secure their release. Ball was suspended indefinitely from the UCLA basketball program following the incident. On December 4, he announced that he planned to withdraw from UCLA; his father LaVar had grown frustrated over the length of the suspension. Had Ball stayed at UCLA, he would have remained suspended for the rest of the season.
