This year’s annual ESPY Awards was definitely one to remember. Celebrities of all sorts came out to show their support and attend the monumental award show. Some people of VIP stature who sat in the audience included Travis Barker, Kourtney Kardashian, Machine Gun Kelly, Megan Fox, Justin Beiber, Addison Rae, Travis Scott, Dave Chapelle, and even Odell Beckham Jr. along with plenty more. While the attendance sheet for this year’s award show was quite impressive, only a select few would leave with their very own, one-of-a-kind, ESPY award.
More specifically LaMelo Ball was presented with the 2021 Best Breakthrough Athlete Award handed to him by none other than popular Charlotte rapper, DaBaby. The youngest Ball brother joined the NBA after being chosen by the Charlotte Hornets as the No. 3 overall pick in the first round of the 2020 NBA draft. Since then, LaMelo has been consistently working to improve himself and show the world that he deserves everything that he has been receiving. The 19-year-old athlete led his team to the 10th seed in the regular season coming just two spots short of securing his cities spot in the 2021 NBA Playoffs.
LaMelo Ball pulled ahead of three other star athletes to lock in his victory, the other nominees being the Washington Football Team’s defensive lineman Chase Young, Minnesota Lynx guard Crystal Dangerfield, and Los Angeles Charger quarterback Justin Herbert. Within his first year as a professional basketball player, the Hornets star finished his season by averaging an impressive total of 15.7 points, 6.1 assists, and 5.9 rebounds each game. “Imma just says, I can only think about my family right now, my momma…Yeah, really my momma, for real. So imma just say thank y’all and have a good night, thank you,” is what LaMelo Ball left with after claiming his rightly deserved award as “Best Breakthrough Athlete” of the year.