balling circles around

[Ostap]

"A lot of people work hard, and they're still broke. In fact, a lot of the time, the broker you are, the harder you probably work. Yeah. My grandmother worked ten times harder than me, but I'm balling circles around that woman."
link with timecode The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

Hello! What does "balling circles around" mean?

 

[SoothingDave]

It's slang to mean rich or successful. I would not use it.

 

[Ostap]

It's slang to mean rich or successful. I would not use it.

But what is the origin of that expression? I can't find it anywhere even in the Urban Dictionary. The ony thing I could find refers to a basketball move.

 

[SoothingDave]

It's the "balling" that is important. The "circles around" is just an intensifier.

Yes, it's related to sports. A "Baller" is really good at them and has the success, money, fame, women, etc. associated with that.

 

[probus]

I agree with @SoothingDave, but more specifically the term baller usually refers to streetball, a version of pickup basketball played outdoors with only a single basket.

 

[Ostap]

Then, apart from the figurative meaning, would it literally mean he's making some kind of this basketball move, as in this video?

 

[probus]

No. More like this guy, called The Professor.

 

[Ostap]

So it basically means that he's showing off before his grandmother?

 

[probus]

No. It means that despite working very hard the grandmother never had much economic success, whereas the speaker is prospering hugely although he doesn't work hard like his grandmother did. It's more like play to him.

 

[Ostap]

It's more like play to him.

Then "balling circles" emphasizes just how easy and efforltess it is for him to make money?

 

[probus]

Not necessarily. It's just a very emphatic and slightly humorous way of saying he is doing very well. The common phrase is "running circles around". He has tarted it up a bit.

 

[Tdol]

Then "balling circles" emphasizes just how easy and efforltess it is for him to make money?

Compared to what his grandmother had to go through, yes. But he's not being boastful, more humble.