LaVar Ball's plan to turn his son LiAngelo into an NBA player appears to have one giant snag — the NBA doesn't want him

LaVar Ball pulled his son LiAngelo from UCLA due to his indefinite suspension for shoplifting in China.
LaVar said he planned to help LiAngelo train for the NBA draft.
Several reports have suggested NBA teams don't consider LiAngelo a legitimate NBA prospect.

LaVar Ball on Monday announced that he has pulled out his son LiAngelo from UCLA because of his indefinite suspension from the team after being arrested in China for shoplifting.

Ball said LiAngelo, the second of his three sons, will not be transferring to another school and instead will be preparing for the NBA Draft.

There appears to be one problem, however — several reports don't sound promising for LiAngelo's NBA future.

When LaVar's announcement began making the rounds, Adam Zagoria of The New York Times and SNY tweeted an ominous quote from an NBA executive:

One NBA exec on whether LiA... @ Adam Zagoria

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that LiAngelo was not even considered a prospect by one GM.

Ex-UCLA freshman LiAngelo B... @ Adrian Wojnarowski

Ball will struggle to find ... @ Adrian Wojnarowski

Sam Vecenie, a college hoops and NBA Draft reporter for The Athletic, noted that LiAngelo may not even have many overseas options, let alone the NBA.

Honestly, the question isn#emo#... @ Sam Vecenie

LaVar's oldest son, Lonzo, was one of the top prospects in the country and had a strong freshman season at UCLA that made him the No. 2 pick in the draft. And while LiAngelo was talented enough to get a scholarship from UCLA — as did the Balls' youngest son, LaMelo — there's a gulf between college basketball players and one of the 60 players taken in the NBA draft each year.

Even LaVar seemed to acknowledge this. In a profile on the Ball family from GQ's Zach Barron, LaVar said he thought LiAngelo was the least likely to make the NBA. From Barron:

"I told my boys that one of them wasn’t going to make it. Because if you’ve got three, only one, maybe two make it to the NBA.' He says, right in front of everyone, that he thinks it’ll be his middle son, LiAngelo, who doesn’t make it. He says he’s told him that. 'He’s going to be taken care of either way,' he says. At least Gelo is the handsomest of his sons, he says — if basketball doesn’t work out, maybe he could be a model."

It's unclear if LaMelo will still attend UCLA considering the fallout with LiAngelo. There are also eligibility questions with LaMelo as he prepares for a custom sneaker with Big Baller Brand.

The shoplifting incident in China seems to have taken LaVar's plan for a detour. While LiAngelo may never have been considered an NBA prospect by NBA teams, trying to get drafted without the benefit of playing for a major college basketball program won't help his chances.