LaMelo Ball is back in all his freeform brilliance. On Wednesday night the Hornets guard opened his 2024-25 campaign with an absolutely staggering 34 point night, adding another eight rebounds and 11 assists.
Leading Charlotte to a comeback win over the Rockets, Melo’s night underscored two things: The Hornets might be sneaky good this season, while also confirming that Ball remains one of the NBA’s most-exciting players when he’s on the court.
LaMelo is a singularly unique player who approaches basketball unlike anyone else. All the trappings of his game were on show Wednesday night, from his lackadaisical low-release three that shouldn’t work, yet often fall, his propensity for running, off-balance floaters which hang in the air for an eternity before arcing in. In a league where efficiency is at a premium, Melo would rather dabble in artistry — making everything he does 10-times more difficult than it needs to be, but damn if it doesn’t look cool in the process.
Above all these things exists the strongest element of his game: Basketball IQ that is off the charts. Ball possesses an unreal sense of timing, spacing and flow in the passing game where he always gives his teammates the best, easiest path to scoring. This in turn takes below-average scorers and turns the other four Charlotte players into weapons alongside him. This is the juxtaposition to Ball’s game, where he makes everything difficult on himself, but easier for others — all the while being topped with a heaping-helping of style.
None of this is especially new, but on Wednesday night it was refined in a way we haven’t seen before out of Melo. The 23-year-old was more patient with the ball in his hands, appeared more capable as a floor general, and was unflappable even with the Hornets down 16 points. Instead of putting everything on himself, Ball just continued to play his game, slowly clawing Charlotte back to tie the game, then take the lead, before finally securing the win.
Two injury-shorted seasons have robbed us of the Melo’s brilliance. While Ball has been stuck on the Hornets bench, Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton, his classmates from the 2020 NBA Draft, have ascended to superstardom and become household names. Adding to the disappointment has been ever-present uneasiness about whether we’d see Melo back to full strength again, especially in light of extended injuries to Melo’s older brother Lonzo. When it comes to those feelings we’re far from being out of the woods, but at least for one night LaMelo Ball showed that when he’s on his game it’s a transcendent experience.
The fate of the Charlotte Hornets is directly tied to LaMelo Ball, for better and worse. This is an organization since its inception which has been largely defined by who they missed out on, rather than who they had. Taking Alonzo Mourning because Shaquille O’Neal was gone. Picking Emeka Okafor because Dwight Howard was off the board. Settling for Michael Kidd-Gilchrist when Anthony Davis went a pick before. Heck, even last year Charlotte was just outside the dream of landing Victor Wembanyama, so they took Brandon Miller.
Melo, however, was luck breaking the Hornets way for once when the Golden State Warriors decided to take James Wiseman one spot ahead of him in the 2020 NBA Draft. The undeniable superstar who can finally lead this sorry franchise to success. If he can stay healthy Charlotte will be a factor in the 2024-25 season, and while we’re only one game in, we also only needed one game to see how special this team could be.
