LaMelo Ball finally turned his season around in December. However, it has been a bit concerning that the Charlotte Hornets star has not played at least 31 minutes in a game in over a month. Is it because of his injuries? Are the Hornets preserving his health to drive up his trade value? How long will he be on a minutes restriction?
Only the team can answer those questions, though it's unclear whether it plans to address any of them.
Perhaps the Hornets' solution to Ball's injury woes is to manage his load until his health is able to hold up. If that's the case, fans may have an easy time accepting it. Hopefully, there isn't any underlying condition that the organization isn't disclosing and that has given it no choice but to limit his playing time.
Meanwhile, the trade angle behind Ball's minutes restriction doesn't make a ton of sense, considering that Charlotte has done everything but confirm outright that he is not going anywhere in the near future. Still, it's not that hard to imagine Jeff Peterson giving Melo up if a godfather offer comes his way. And such a scenario would only transpire if the 2022 All-Star is healthy and flourishing.
When will the minutes restriction end?
Maybe I'm just reading too much into Ball still not staying on the floor as much as he had in the previous seasons. For all we know, it's just part of the front office's plan to ease him in and have him suit up in as many contests as possible.
On the other hand, it's tough to ignore his averaging just 26.8 minutes per game in his past nine appearances. The good news is that he put up impressive numbers during that stretch, recording 20.7 points, 4.7 3-pointers, 7.6 assists, and 1.4 steals per match. Additionally, Ball shot efficiently by his standards, sinking 45.4 percent of his field-goal attempts and 49.4 percent of his threes.
It's also possible that the Hornets just aren't that focused on racking up the wins this year. Instead, the objective could be to continue giving the core trio of Ball, Brandon Miller, and Kon Knueppel as many reps as possible while looking forward to the 2026 offseason to find the final pieces of the puzzle.
But if they want to at least try advancing to the play-in tournament come April, they would need their main guy to spend more time on the court. The Hornets have held down the fort in recent weeks when he is on the bench. Even so, they have clearly been stronger when he is orchestrating the offense.