LaMelo Ball is indubitably the face of the Charlotte Hornets franchise. However, how long that lasts is unclear.
For a while earlier in the season, the sentiment about Ball's long-term outlook suiting up for the Hornets skewed more toward the optimistic side. He is under contract until the 2028-29 season and proved to be one of the league's most electrifying scorers. Moreover, Charlotte looked like a few pieces away from fielding a squad that would allow the star to demonstrate his playmaking prowess.
Things change quickly in the NBA, though. Injuries and a fall to near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings have had people wondering if building around Ball is the organization's best bet to one day becoming a contender.
LaMelo Ball's Hornets future hinges on Jeff Peterson
If there's someone who can shed light on how much longer Ball will stay in Buzz City, it's Jeff Peterson.
The Hornets executive vice president of basketball operations appears to have the final say in shaping the roster, as evidenced by his decision to trade Mark Williams despite team governer Gabe Plotkin identifying the young center as part of the franchise's core nucleus last offseason. If the ownership group didn't fully agree with the trade-deadline move, the good news is that Williams is back. Whether the big man is happy with how things turned out, though, remains to be seen.
A question now is whether Peterson thinks Ball is the cornerstone that Charlotte needs moving forward. As Bobby Marks of ESPN noted, the Hornets' lead executive inherited the former No. 3 pick and his five-year, $204 million contract extension.
Three weeks from now, it will be the anniversary of Peterson's hiring. So, that means that he will have 13 months of data about Ball when the 2024-25 regular season ends on Apr. 13. Perhaps that should be enough for Peterson to "decide if Ball is a foundational player or someone they should explore moving for significant draft compensation and players," as Marks put it.
The talented floor general is no doubt one of the best players in the league. He has looked like an All-Star, even though the media, the Eastern Conference coaches, and Adam Silver don't think he deserves to play in the 2025 All-Star Game. However, his injuries have prevented him from appearing in more than 36 games in each of the past two campaigns. This season, he can play no more than 64 contests after having already missed 18.
If there's one thing that Peterson proved in the past weeks, it's that he isn't afraid to shake the roster up if it means trying to help Charlotte take one step closer to creating a sustainable contender. Still, trading Ball away would be quite a seismic move and could even be a divisive one among the fans. But as long as Peterson avoids doing a Nico Harrison, a significant chunk of the Hornets faithful might go along with his plans.