Late in the second quarter of Friday's game, LaMelo Ball ran up the floor with the ball, lulling the Atlanta Hawks defense into taking a breath and setting up for what seemed like a halfcourt possession. Then, he attacked. The Charlotte Hornets guard got De'Andre Hunter to reach before crossing over behind his back, then leapt into the lane toward Zaccharie Risacher's help defense, which Ball negated by crossing back and gathering high, taking it right at Onyeka Okongwu. The Hawks center cut off Ball's angle at the rim, though Ball twisted under him, switched from right to left, and put just enough spin on the layup to get it off the glass. He missed, though it would have been a de facto alley-oop if he hadn't been fouled.
Only a handful players in the NBA could have pulled off a move like that. There aren't many who are fast and skillful enough with the ball to zoom past primary and secondary lines of defense, yet big and athletic enough to overcome good rim protection. Though he hasn't shown it much in the past couple seasons, a healthy LaMelo Ball is capable of producing some breathtaking moments and gaudy stat lines. He notched 34 points in each of the Hornets' first two games, nailing nine threes in a narrow loss to the Hawks and tossing 11 assists in a comeback win against the Houston Rockets. His version of an off night was still a 27-8-7 game against the Miami Heat on Saturday. Ball brings life to the moribund Hornets.
Ball has only notionally been an NBA player for the past two seasons, playing in a total of 58 games since his sophomore All-Star campaign in 2021-22. The Hornets point guard broke his right ankle in February 2023, strained it in November of that year, then sprained the same ankle again the following January after just seven games back. While the injured Ball made headlines for violating arcane NBA tattoo rules, driving like a maniac, and allegedly running over an 11-year-old's foot, the Hornets drifted into irrelevancy. A serious franchise does not sign Miles Bridges to two contracts after his domestic violence investigation, debase its jerseys with an advertising patch from a YouTuber, and blow first-round picks in spectacular fashion.
During the two seasons when Ball was mostly unavailable, the Hornets went 48-116 and were totally unwatchable. Only a hardened watcher of Vasilije Micic could have found something intriguing about the post-trade deadline Hornets, and only the world's biggest Mark Williams fan could have made the case for the team being anything but forgettable. This season, Charles Lee replaced Steve Clifford as head coach, and the team, while young, finally looks coherent. Brandon Miller is developing well after a solid rookie season, and this year's first-round pick, Tidjane Salaün, has shown promise in the preseason.
While the rest of the Hornets coalesce, Ball looks dangerous at all times. He's always been a fantastic shooter with casual balance, a quick release, and a willingness to pull it from anywhere in the half court; he pops it so comfortably off one foot. Defenders can never go under against Ball, but his handle is so tight and his passing so crisp that he will dissect your defense if he's given a runway. His weakness has always been the final step in this offensive flowchart: If he can't shoot and can't kick it out or drop it down, the logical opening is at the rim. But Ball has been horrid in the paint throughout his career, an anomaly which is especially baffling given his 6-foot-7 height.
It is remarkable for someone so good at the hardest parts of the game to be so bad at some of the simplest parts, yet Ball is just not a high-level finisher. There are also foul problems, chronic turnover issues stemming from overambitious passing, and largely ineffectual defense to consider. The player he could be is still incredibly tantalizing, but there's no point in anointing or condemning Ball three games into this season. As the Hornets try to sort themselves out, it's just cool to see him do cool stuff again.
