Charlotte Hornets News: Young All-Star Officially Done for the Year

In what seems to be a depressingly regular occurrence, Charlotte Hornets All-Star point guard LaMelo Ball has officially been ruled out for the rest of the 2023-24 season, according to Charlotte's PR team. He's still recovering from surgery to correct a right ankle injury.

The one-time All-Star (he was an injury replacement player in 2022, but it still counts) has barely been healthy through his four NBA seasons. As a rookie, he missed 21 contests (mostly due to a late-season wrist injury) but was nevertheless named the Rookie of the Year for his prolific efforts when healthy. Last year, he sat out for 46 games, mostly as a result of surgery to correct a right ankle fracture. This year, he'll miss his most games yet, a whopping 60 bouts.

During his lone All-Star season in 2021-22, the 6'7" star submitted terrific individual stats, and it translated to a solid season for the club. Charlotte finished with a 43-39 record and qualified for the play-in tournament (as it had during his rookie season), though it failed to advance to the playoffs, falling 132-103 to the Atlanta Hawks in its lone play-in bout.

That season, he averaged 20.1 points on .429/.389/.872 shooting splits, 7.6 assists, 6.7 rebounds, and 1.6 steals across 75 games.

Ball will finish up the 2023-24 season having averaged sparkling numbers when available. He averaged 23.9 points on .433/.355/.865 shooting splits, eight assists, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.8 steals a night.

Ball played with pro clubs in Lithuania (BC Prienai in 2018) and Australia (the Illawarra Hawks), in addition to a JBA club founded by his father Lavar, before being chosen with the third pick in a talented 2020 NBA draft.

Another injury-mandated absence stands as troubling news for the Hornets, although given that the team is currently 18-54 and the Eastern Conference's No. 13 seed, it's perhaps not altogether surprising. five-year, maximum-salaried contract extension last summer, which could be worth between $200-$260 million.

Theoretically, Ball represents the distributing fulcrum at the heart of what could be an intriguing young team of future star players, alongside troubled forwards Miles Bridges and Brandon Miller.

Miller, the No. 2 pick in last year's draft out of Auburn, looks likely to make the All-Rookie First Team thanks to his stellar play thus far. This year, Miller is averaging 17 points on .437/.373/.814 shooting splits (second among all rookies, behind only the San Antonio Spurs' Victor Wembanyama), 4.3 rebounds (10th), 2.4 assists (10th), and 0.9 steals (seventh).

Bridges has been the Hornets' second-leading scorer behind Ball, albeit while playing several more games even with an early suspension. He's averaging 21.1 points on .460/.350/.812 shooting splits, 7.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and one steal.