{
  "id": 18878102,
  "title": "LaMelo Ball issues perfect response to Hasan Minhaj seven years after his viral ‘boarding school’ joke",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/08/lamelo-ball-issues-perfect-response-to-hasan-minhaj-seven-years-after",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-11-08T06:18:25.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Yahoo Sports",
    "slug": "yahoo-sports",
    "url": "https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/lamelo-ball-issues-perfect-response-061825697.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "LaMelo Ball, one of the NBA's premier stars, faced a humorous jab from comedian Hasan Minhaj seven years ago regarding his decision to play in Australia's National Basketball League (NBL) instead of entering the NBA directly after high school. Minhaj remarked on the NBA Awards in 2019, asserting that Ball had been \"shipped to boarding school in Australia\" and would never play in America's top league. Despite this, Ball has not only made it to the NBA but has emerged as a dominant force for the Minnesota Timberwolves. In a perfect response to Minhaj's jest, the 25-year-old posted a video on Instagram. The clip begins with Minhaj's joke from seven years prior, followed immediately by a montage of Ball's stellar performance with the Timberwolves this season, demonstrating his evolution into a top-tier NBA player and proving his critics wrong.",
  "summary": "LaMelo Ball is one of the biggest names in the NBA right now. The Minnesota Timberwolves superstar is one of the best in the business, but he had to work very hard to get to the position he is in right now.",
  "key_points": [
    "Hasan Minhaj joked about LaMelo Ball being shipped to Australia's NBL in 2019.",
    "LaMelo Ball made it to the NBA and became a dominant force for Minnesota Timberwolves.",
    "Ball responded with a video on Instagram, proving critics wrong."
  ],
  "editors_take": "Ball’s social media rebuttal transforms a past insult into a celebration of his professional evolution, signaling his complete transition from an overlooked prospect to a dominant NBA star.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}