The Seattle Ballers were a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

team based in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

. The team competed in the

Junior Basketball Association The Junior Basketball Association (JBA) was an American basketball league that intended to be an alternative to the NCAA by allowing high school and junior college players to immediately play professionally. The league was first announced in Dec ...

(JBA), a league created for high school and junior college players as an alternative to the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA).

History

The JBA was first announced on December 20, 2017, when media personality

LaVar Ball LaVar Christopher Ball (born October 23, 1967) is an American businessman. He is the co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of the sports apparel company Big Baller Brand and founder of the now defunct Junior Basketball Association (JBA ...

said to ''

Slam Slam, SLAM or SLAMS may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional elements * S.L.A.M. (Strategic Long-Range Artillery Machine), a fictional weapon in the ''G.I. Joe'' universe * SLAMS (Space-Land-Air Missile Shield), a fictional anti-ball ...

'' magazine that he would create a professional league targeted at high school graduates and fully funded by his sports apparel company

Big Baller Brand Big Baller Brand (BBB) is an American company that designs, manufactures, and sells clothing and shoes. Launched in 2016 by Alan Foster and LaVar Ball, it has most notably produced signature shoes for the Ball brothers—basketball players Lon ...

. The league held tryouts in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

in April 2018, initially selecting only four players onto the Seattle Ballers team. Among them was Semaj Booker, who had previously made national headlines as a

runaway child A runaway is a minor or (depending upon the local jurisdiction) a person under a specified age who has left their parents or legal guardians without permission. Statistics show that females are more likely to run away than males. Causes Curren ...

at age nine. During an episode of ''

Ball In The Family ''Ball in the Family'' is an American reality television series that premiered on August 29, 2017 on Facebook Watch. The show documents the personal and professional lives of the Ball family. The sixth season premiered on October 18, 2020. Cast ...

'', it was revealed that joining alongside Booker were Ismael Muhammad, Joe Saterfield Jr., and Erwin Weary Jr. At its tryout in Houston, Texas at a later date, the league brought in three-star

recruit __NOTOC__ Recruit can refer to: Military * Military recruitment * Recruit training, in the military * '' Rekrut'' (English: Recruit), a military recruit or low rank in German-speaking countries * Seaman recruit Books *''Le Réquisitionnaire'' (E ...

and former

Southern Utah Southern Utah University (SUU) is a public university in Cedar City, Utah. Founded in 1897 as a normal school, Southern Utah University now graduates over 1,800 students each year with baccalaureate and graduate degrees from its six colleges. ...

commit Jerell Springer to the Seattle Ballers squad. On June 16, 2018, the JBA announced former

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

basketball player

Charles O'Bannon Charles Edward O'Bannon Sr. (born February 22, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball with the UCLA Bruins. He was a two-time first-team all-conference player in the Pac-10 (now known as the Pac-1 ...

as the Ballers' head coach.

2018 roster

References

External links

JBA official website
{{JBA Junior Basketball Association teams Basketball teams in Seattle Basketball teams in the United States Basketball teams established in 2018 2018 establishments in Washington (state)