CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With the ink on the richest contract in Charlotte Hornets’ history dry, LaMelo Ball can purchase just about anything he wants.
Ball could easily add to his already impressive collection of fine automobiles, giving him another canvas to be painted with exotic colors. But if the Hornets’ star point guard keeps filling up the garage with new toys, there’s one thing that likely won’t happen: rookie Brandon Miller getting behind the wheel for a test drive.
“Driving the car, yeah, I don’t know about that,” Ball said Wednesday during a press conference at Spectrum Center. “My family and everybody, they know how I get. I think I get it from my pops. We don’t really let nobody drive the cars.
“But definitely Brandon, having him is great. Like a little brother, definitely cool and I think he is a great player, too — 6-9, can handle the ball. So I feel like he’s going to fit in perfectly and it’s going to be a great marriage.”
That’s how the Hornets feel about Ball, which is why they opened up the vault and offered up the first max rookie contract extension in team history. They offered Ball the most lucrative deal in the 35 years the franchise has existed in Charlotte, ensuring he’d be the face of the team for at least the next half-dozen seasons thanks to a new five-year deal that could be worth as much as $260 million.
He won’t be leaving the Carolinas any time soon.
“The decision, it wasn’t really hard,” Ball said. “All my years here I’ve had a good time. Life wasn’t bad. The basketball aspect, that’s not really going well. You kind of want to live your life and just have fun and just be living well. So in Charlotte I was doing that, so it just all felt like a great choice.”
Ankle injuries cut Ball’s season short
Although his third season in the NBA was cut short due to ankle injuries, he was still one of the most effective offensive weapons in the league. When Ball was on the court, the Hornets scored 5.7 more points per 100 possessions, the same as Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James (5.7) and ahead of Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo (5.6).
He’s blossomed into a nice weapon since the Hornets drafted him third overall in 2020.
“To have a player of LaMelo’s caliber with his game, with his youth, we know he is going to get better as a player,” team president/GM Mitch Kupchak said. “He’s here every day. He certainly had a setback last year, but in terms of healing, he’s been 100 percent healed and he’s been on the court working out every single day trying to get better.
“So, to have a young player who of course has made the all-star team … We have not had success as a team, which is something that will change — that’s our stated goal. But to have a player like him back with us, chose to come back to us, it’s exciting and I would hope it’s exciting for the city of Charlotte.”
Ball’s March 1 surgery to repair a fractured right ankle feels like light years ago and the Hornets hope he’ll be available for a full campaign in 2023-24 after playing in only 36 games in 2022-23. He got sidelined on four different occasions after initially spraining his left ankle in October during a preseason game against Washington, and three of those absences were a result of the same injury.
“It’s definitely frustrating,” Ball said. “We had injuries, but that’s a lot of motivation to get back on the court and do what I love. With the injury, the doctor said I’m 100. So, I’m just getting on the court now and taking baby steps, getting everything back to where it was, and just trying to tune everything up.”
Including working on the timing with his closest friend on the team. Ball and Miles Bridges formed a pretty exciting duo before Ball’s initial two seasons, displaying an almost ready-made synergy that produced countless highlights.
Probably no one is happier than Ball to have Bridges in the fold once more.
“Great vibes,” Ball said. “We got MB back. That was big and hopefully we just make the most of this year and show everybody.”
Slowly, Ball is morphing into a leader and he’s going to have to shoulder a bunch of the burden as he grows with the important responsibility. The Hornets boast the longest playoff drought in the league and their seven-year absence in the postseason will surely have everyone on notice once the new ownership group is approved.
It’s on Ball to lead Charlotte to the NBA’s promised land.
“Definitely,” he said. “From the day I got here, I’ve felt like that. But even now it’s definitely more of a role, so it’s coming in every day, getting better, just bringing the whole team around and everybody getting better, and having the main goal. So, that is what we are going to try to do.”
It’s also a necessity for the team’s long-term success. Altering the Hornets’ perennial direction is the only way to make this city a true destination.
Making Charlotte ‘more desirable’ for other players
Money talks, but victories and banners hanging from the arena’s rafters speak rather loudly, too.
“What’s going to make Charlotte more desirable — as much as I like LaMelo, he’s not going to be the primary reason why Charlotte is more desirable — is if we win games and have a winning organization,” Kupchak said, adding he thinks the Hornets can be a playoff team this season. “Then you’ll see players who will want to be drafted by Charlotte, want to be traded to Charlotte and when they’re free agents, they’ll want to come to Charlotte.
“Yes, LaMelo is a big part of that. As I mentioned earlier, he’s our cornerstone. But winning will solve all those other problems.”
There’s still plenty of work ahead for Kupchak to do all he can to make that happen sooner than later. Save for Bridges signing his qualifying offer, it’s been relatively quiet during these first three weeks of free agency for the Hornets.
PJ Washington, a restricted free agent, remains unsigned and the same goes for Charlotte’s other restricted free agent, Theo Maledon. Kupchak declined to divulge where things stand with the roster construction, although he mentioned the possibility of adding a veteran presence and another ball-handling guard given the departure of Dennis Smith Jr. to Brooklyn.
“This press conference is about LaMelo, so I don’t want to branch off,” Kupchak said. “Yes, we still have some work to do. We’re not done with our summer. It’s not time to go on vacation. As I said, I’m very comfortable with the talent that’s on this team. I think we’re in a good spot.”
