LaMelo Ball Gets the LeBron James Treatment With 'Welcome to Ohio' Billboard

Cleveland is embracing a new basketball star.

With LeBron James living in Los Angeles, Cleveland is embracing a new basketball star.

LaMelo Ball announced Tuesday that he is enrolling as a senior at Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio, to play basketball and finish his high school education. A billboard popped up Friday in downtown Cleveland, just minutes from Quicken Loans Arena, with Ball's photo and the caption "Welcome to Ohio, LaMelo."

The billboard resembles the former sign of LeBron with outstretched arms that used to hang in downtown Cleveland. After LeBron left for the Lakers, the Cavaliers replaced his banner with a new one featuring the city's Guardian of Transportation statue.

New LaMelo Ball billboard appears in downtown Clevelandhttps://t.co/i3vO8GYzEx pic.twitter.com/l3T57VYfhl

— WKYC 3News (@wkyc) November 9, 2018

Ball, a five-star recruit in the class of 2019, left Chino Hills High School in California last fall to play professionally in Lithuania with his brother LiAngelo.  They returned to the states this summer to play in the Junior Basketball Association, which is run by their father LaVar.