As crazy as it seems, LaMelo Ball was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets just a little over a year ago. Due to the shortened COVID-19 season and quick offseason, Ball is already a quarter of a way into his second NBA season and is already being talked about as one of the league’s future superstars.
Ball is just 20-years-old and still has an entire career ahead of him but at this trajectory, the Hornets are looking at the potential best player in their franchise history barring any injuries or him leaving in free agency.
At the same time, Charlotte’s history is very bleak when it comes to franchise players, with just a handful that you can make the argument for, but Ball’s play has been so exciting so early on that he could be put in the discussion sooner rather than later.
Some of the best players in Hornets/Bobcats history include Kemba Walker, Larry Johnson, Alonzo Mourning, Glen Rice, Dell Curry, Gerald Wallace and Muggsy Bogues.
There was some fun Charlotte teams back in the late 90s and early 2000’s but the team has never advanced past the semifinals and hasn’t won a playoff series since 2001-02.
When the Hornets unveiled their 30-year anniversary team three seasons ago, Walker, Bogues and Baron Davis were the three point guards on the list of 10 players.
Behind those three guys, there really haven’t been many great point guards to make an actual impact in Charlotte.
Mo Williams and Kenny Anderson had success as Hornets but didn’t stick around long.
With that said, even though he has such a small sample size, Ball can already be named a top-five Hornets PG ever with the amount of impact and skills he has shown.
So, for this piece, I rank the top four PGs in Charlotte history and on the last slide, reveal where Ball should currently be placed