3 Things Hornets fans can still root for this season

Players to get healthy 

Rooting for health isn’t exactly most people’s idea of fun, but it’s a huge deal for the Hornets. Massive question marks have arisen around the health of LaMelo Ball and Mark Williams. At 22 and 21 years old, these are supposed to be two young core building blocks for the future, but their inability to get on the floor is extremely concerning.

We’ve seen this with LaMelo for a few years now, as he’s played in just 51, 75, 36, and now 22 games so far this season. It’s extremely hard to build a young team when your superstar player can’t play. I’m desperately rooting for LaMelo to come back and build some chemistry with his new teammates down the stretch.

The Williams injury might be even more concerning. What started as a run-of-the-mill back injury has turned into an issue that has kept the young big man out since early December, and he’s still without a timeline to return.

At certain points, there were even reports questioning whether this injury would have a long-term impact on Williams’ career. That’s a pretty depressing thought for a player so young with so much promise.

Williams looked like a home run of a pick for the Hornets last year, but if he can’t stay on the court, then it’ll be back to the drawing board for a young center to build around. Rooting for these two guys to get healthy and get back to looking like young stars is paramount to the entire rebuilding process. And if that’s not a realistic expectation, then as tough a reality as it would be to face, the sooner we find out the better.

So as much as it may seem like the Hornets don’t have a lot to play for the rest of this season. They have plenty to prove and accomplish, and there are several intriguing reasons to watch this team, and several things to be watching and rooting for.