Hornets' LaMelo Ball gets further update on long-term future in Charlotte
Today at 09:02 PM
Charlotte Hornets star LaMelo Ball received a concerning update on his long-term future with the franchise. The Hornets are in the middle of another disappointing season, ranking near the bottom of the Eastern Conference. At 14-46 overall, Charlotte’s season was all but over when forward Brandon Miller was ruled out for the year with a wrist injury in January. Excluding the Play-In, the Hornets have not made the playoffs since 2016, the longest current drought in the NBA.
Even though he recently signed a contract extension with the franchise, there might be some trouble brewing with LaMelo Ball’s future with the organization. Senior NBA Insider Michael Scotto broke down the situation in Charlotte and Ball’s current outlook in an interview with Sportsnet.
“If you were willing to part with Mark Williams, who's 23 and pretty good. The next logical thing is you’ve got to look at LaMelo Ball, who's on a max contract. They're (the Hornets) obviously not winning in the foreseeable future. And for LaMelo, he wants to win. How much longer? This is now going be the fifth season. At the end of the day, not winning affected him not being an All-Star with Charlotte. On paper, he had the numbers. He wants to win competitively, from what I’ve been told.”
Charlotte’s murky future might lead to some more drastic moves
The fact of the matter is that Charlotte is in line to get a top-three pick in this draft, which could immediately reshape its future. This NBA Draft is supposed to be an elite one, and if the Hornets were to, by chance, win the lottery and add Duke star Cooper Flagg, the sky would be the limit going forward. LaMelo Ball won’t be requesting a trade anytime soon if that happens. But right now, this team, which came into the season with some expectations, has underperformed again and is looking for direction in head coach Charles Lee’s first year.
Ball signed a five-year contract in 2023 that just kicked in this season. There’s no reason for the Hornets to trade their 23-year-old point guard right now. But LaMelo’s impatience is understandable right now. Even though, one thing that will mitigate the losing is if the star point guard is more available healthwise going forward. Over the past two seasons, Ball did not play more than 36 games in a season. So far this year, he’s played just 38 of 60 games.
Still, it goes without saying that LaMelo needs more help and some assurances from the organization that it can be competitive in the near future. It would be a real shame to see this partnership fail, as Ball has the potential to be the greatest Charlotte Hornet ever.
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