lamelo ball-lavar ball LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 24: Lamelo Ball #1 of Chino Hills High School looks for the open pass during the game against Mater Dei High School at the Galen Center on February 24, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Josh Lefkowitz/Getty Images)

No one manages to be both shocking and entirely predictable quite like LaVar Ball.

The latest move in Ball’s many-step plan to take over the basketball world (with the help of his three sons, who actually play basketball) is the decision to homeschool his youngest progeny, LaMelo, for two years, while training him at the same time.

In an interview with ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, LaVar said the issue at Chino Hills High School was his son’s coach, who “has his own frame of mind.”

It sounds like much of the problem stems from the coach’s stated plan to curb LaMelo’s famously conscience-free shot selection.

Of course, LaVar didn’t need to pull LaMelo entirely out of school just to get him away from a coach he didn’t like. That suggests there could be another announcement coming, perhaps involving a new high-school team for the junior to play on before AAU season.

As with all things Ball, it’s hard to know what to make of this. Emboldened by the success of Lonzo and, to some extent, recent UCLA enrollee LiAngelo, LaVar seems to be testing all sorts of gimmicks on LaMelo. The young point guard gets to shoot 3-pointers from mid-court, cherrypick all game, forfeit any AAU game in which the ref makes a bad call and wear a signature shoe about a half decade before even the best players usually get one.

LaVar’s latest decision, to lift LaMelo from the high school where he has starred, is shocking in that it’s rare and counter-intuitive but also predictable in that LaVar’s chief goal for his sons seems to be NBA stardom, and you don’t need to know trigonometry or European history to make an All-Star Game.

The people who view everything LaVar does through the most cynical lens will spin this as a crass ploy that deprives his son of an education. A more forgiving interpretation might call it the latest example of LaVar doing whatever it takes to get his son where they both want him to go. LaMelo is the No. 17 player and No. 4 point guard in the Class of 2019, according to 247Sports. He will likely be a millionaire before long, whether or not he walks across the stage at an official high school graduation.

And yes, pulling LaMelo out of school might make it hard to ensure the guard is eligible to play in college. But given LaMelo’s shoe deal and his father’s general inclination toward screwing over those in power, the youngest Ball might not be headed to college anyway.

About Alex Putterman

Alex is a writer and editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. He has written for The Atlantic, VICE Sports, MLB.com, SI.com and more. He is a proud alum of Northwestern University and The Daily Northwestern. You can find him on Twitter @AlexPutterman.