The Charlotte Hornets may be unofficially tanking, but a lot of fans were hoping they would come out with the win on Wednesday. One reason was that the team had the opportunity to match its longest winning streak this season at three. Another is that its meeting came against the Atlanta Hawks, whose star, Trae Young, has earned a reputation as a free-throw merchant.
Unfortunately, Atlanta broke the game open with a 13-0 run to start the second half. Charlotte got to within four early in the fourth quarter but couldn't rally for another comeback victory, losing 123-110. Young led all scorers with 35 points and earned the ire of many among the Hornets faithful because of his 21 free-throw makes and attempts.
It was an opportunity for LaMelo Ball to prove why the league office made a mistake in choosing Young over him as the injury replacement in the All-Star Game. However, the Hornets star couldn't snap out of his funk, going 6-21 (22.2 percent) from the field and only reaching 25 points because of his 10 trips to the charity stripe.
LaMelo Ball is not himself and may need time to recover
With his poor shooting night, the 2021 Rookie of the Year's slump got extended by one more game. The last time he hit at least half of his field-goal attempts was nearly two months ago when he put up 27 points on an 11-21 shooting clip in Charlotte's win over the Utah Jazz. It's also worth noting that in his past eight contests, Ball has shot just 30.6 percent from the field and has never reached the 40 percent mark during that stretch.
It's unclear why he couldn't buy a bucket in his recent appearances when he had emerged as one of the league's top shot-makers earlier in the 2024-25 campaign.
Perhaps the absence of healthy bodies has enabled defenses to key in on Ball. Another possible reason is that his injuries may have taken their toll on his performance. His shot hasn't looked the same for a while now, and his ailing ankle or calf could be the culprit behind his shooting struggles.
As such, the Hornets might have to make the tough decision of giving Ball more time to get his body back to 100 percent, given that they are already lottery-bound anyway. In addition, the team has two (Brandon Miller and Grant William) guys and a possible third (Tre Mann) who won't be suiting up again this season. So, it should consider allowing LaMelo to try to recuperate some more in the coming days or weeks.
Of course, I'm not saying that the Hornets have to let him take the rest of the season off and turn their focus instead toward the coming summer. They still need him to get into a rhythm before the offseason. However, don't be surprised if the top brass determines that the best course of action with its most talented player is to shut him down sooner or later.