Though, his team went on to defeat the Pistons 117-106, Monday. LaMelo Ball suffered a fractured ankle during the third quarter.
He fell to the court after planting his right leg on a crossover dribble. The injury didn’t involve contact with another player.
Ball immediately left for the locker room after the injury, and X-rays revealed the fracture with the Hornets announcing it shortly after. There was no initial prognosis or timetable for his recovery offered. The injury likely marks the end of an injury-plagued season for the third-year guard. Ball missed the first 13 games of the season with a Grade 2 sprain of his left ankle, and reinjured the ankle three games into his return and was sidelined for another 11 games.
Ball, an All-Star in his second season, showed progress when able to play this season. Entering Monday, he averaged a career-high 23.4 points and 8.5 assists alongside 6.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals while shooting 36.7% from 3-point distance in 35 games. The Hornets have regressed after a 43-49 season in 2021. A big majority of the setbacks has come in part to the injuries that LaMelo Ball has suffered, as well as the absence of Miles Bridges after his domestic violence charge.
They improved to 20-43 with Monday’s win, good for 14th place out of 15 teams in the Eastern Conference, ahead of only the 15-47 Pistons.
As of now, both teams are in the running for top picks to acquire in the NBA lottery in a draft that features two generationalt prospects: Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson.
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[…] new leadership. The Hornets fell short of expectations in 2022-23 after LaMelo Ball‘s season ended with an injury. The injury surely didn’t help, but the team wasn’t much better before that. A 20-38 […]