The JBA was first announced on December 20, 2017, when media personality LaVar Ball said to Slam magazine that he would create a professional league targeted at high school graduates and fully funded by his sports apparel company Big Baller Brand.[1][2] The league held tryouts in Seattle in April 2018, initially selecting only four players onto the Seattle Ballers team.[3] Among them was Semaj Booker, who had previously made national headlines as a runaway child at age nine.[4] During an episode of Ball In The Family, it was revealed that joining alongside Booker were Ismael Muhammad, Joe Saterfield Jr., and Erwin Weary Jr.[5] At its tryout in Houston, Texas at a later date, the league brought in three-star recruit and former Southern Utah commit Jerell Springer to the Seattle Ballers squad.[6] On June 16, 2018, the JBA announced former UCLA basketball player Charles O'Bannon as the Ballers' head coach.
