It has been a long time since the Charlotte Hornets have been able to turn to LaMelo Ball.
Ball is supposed to be the future of the franchise and is clearly the centerpiece of the young team.
But he’s also been injury-prone lately and hasn’t been able to play a lot.
Ball was ruled out of his 12th consecutive game ahead of Wednesday’s match against the Detroit Pistons.
After missing 11 games with a left ankle sprain, Charlotte's LaMelo Ball — upgraded to questionable vs. Detroit tonight — is "hopeful" to make his return to the lineup, source tells ESPN. Ball will warm up and see if he's ready to play.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 14, 2022
But that might not be the case anymore.
Ball has now been upgraded to “questionable” versus the Pistons for Wednesday and the team is “hopeful” that he will make his return after a lengthy left ankle sprain that has taken him out of the game and really hurt his team’s chances.
Ball Balling Again?
The Hornets have fallen to 14th team in the East with a 7-20 record.
That means they could have used Ball’s help weeks ago.
But his return is going to be good news, no matter how much he helps them and how far away their playoff chances feel right now.
When healthy, Ball was putting up 19.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 7 assists a game on 41.5% from the field.
Those numbers would help the already short-handed Hornets as they attempt to assemble some sort of winning record.
But fans of the team shouldn’t expect a lot from Ball if he does make his return to the court on Wednesday.
As is the norm for most players coming back from an injury, Ball will probably have a minutes restriction for the foreseeable future.
The hope is that he doesn’t get hurt again considering this is actually the second injury of Ball’s season.
He has only played in three games so far in 2022-23.
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