LaMelo Ball Shows Off Playmaking, but Illawarra Hawks Fall to Perth Wildcats

LaMelo Ball led his team in scoring, but the Illawarra Hawks fell to the Perth Wildcats 103-76 in National Basketball League action at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, on Friday.

Ball finished with 15 points on 4-of-14 shooting to go along with eight assists, two rebounds, two steals and four turnovers in 33 minutes. The Hawks fell to 0-2 on the season, while the defending league champions improved to 2-0.

Although Ball did struggle a bit from the field, he opened the scoring Friday with a beautiful backdoor cut that resulted in a layup:

The bulk of Ball's damage was done as a passer, though, and the point guard recorded several highlight-reel assists in the loss:

Ben Mallis of AAP Newswire saw a lot of Ball's older brother, Lonzo Ball, in LaMelo's game Friday:

Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman agreed that LaMelo's playmaking ability is his greatest asset at this stage:

One of the biggest things Ball must improve in order to become a more complete player is his three-point shot, as he went just 1-of-6 from downtown Friday.

Olgun Uluc of Fox Sports Australia believes that is bound to happen and already views LaMelo as a high-end offensive talent:

At just 18 years of age, Ball is playing against much older and more physically developed players in the top professional league in Australia and New Zealand, but he is holding his own through two games nonetheless.

Ball is receiving No. 1 overall pick buzz ahead of the 2020 NBA draft, and he showed some flashes of why that is the case against arguably the NBL's best team.

Wins may be hard to come by on an Illawarra team that finished 12-16 in each of the past two seasons, but the 2019-20 campaign in Oceania should be a huge learning experience for Ball.

LaMelo's next chance to impress NBA scouts will come Monday when the Hawks face the Cairns Taipans.