Keeping It Heel
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UNC Recruiting: How Coby White turned down LaVar Ball, Big Baller Brand

By Blake Cockrum

PRIENAI, LITHUANIA - JANUARY 09: LaVar Ball father of LiAngelo and LaMelo looks on during the match between Vytautas Prienai and Zalgiris Kauno on January 9, 2018 in Prienai, Lithuania. (Photo by Alius Koroliovas/Getty Images)
PRIENAI, LITHUANIA - JANUARY 09: LaVar Ball father of LiAngelo and LaMelo looks on during the match between Vytautas Prienai and Zalgiris Kauno on January 9, 2018 in Prienai, Lithuania. (Photo by Alius Koroliovas/Getty Images) /
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LaVar Ball came calling, and Coby White had no interest

Over the last two years, Greenfield School’s Coby White has proven to be one of the most dynamic and offensively gifted players in the country. He became a household name among those familiar with the amateur basketball circuit, and subsequently soared up recruiting boards.

Since committing to the University of North Carolina as an up-and-coming junior, White made the jump from virtually unknown four-star player to five-star scoring savant. And now he’s a McDonald’s All-American and holds the North Carolina state scoring record.

That’s why the North Carolina fan base got a little nervous when outspoken entrepreneur and businessman LaVar Ball came calling. In an attempt to continue building his brand, which at the current time, doesn’t seem to be going as well as he’d hoped, Ball invited White to join Big Baller Brand’s Junior Basketball Association.

The league, which is currently in its infancy stage, is focused toward players who don’t want to go to college but have to wait until their 19th birthday to sign with an NBA team. Ball’s focus is on getting 80 of the nation’s top 100 high school basketball players to join the league to play for one year before turning pro.

White is one of Ball’s latest targets, who also recently contacted class of 2018 UNC commits Nassir Little and Rechon Black. And like Little and Black, White turned down the opportunity presented to him.

"“We kind of told him that we were not interested,” White’s mother, Bonita said. “They’re trying to come up with eight teams to play in four major cities and they would be paid for playing,” she said. “I didn’t get that far to ask them how much they would be paid. They had already reached out to Coby and he just ignored them”"

And with that, Tar Heels fans can rest easy. Professional basketball is a likely destination for White at some point, but it won’t be in 2018.

Next: Five-star recruit in Chapel Hill on Monday

On the other hand, the NBA may come calling for guys like White and Little a lot sooner than North Carolina fans care to think about right now.

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