CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There are a great many things about LaMelo Ball that are fun to watch and make for terrific highlights. But there are two things about Ball that bother me greatly now that he has completed his first five years with the Charlotte Hornets:

1. He has missed 57% of the Hornets’ games over the past three seasons due to various injuries.

2. In his five years in Charlotte, he’s never led the Hornets to the playoffs, nor proven that he can win at a high (or even a medium-high) level.

The personal stat line is always good when Ball is on the floor, and this year was no exception. He averaged a career-high 25.2 points, along with 7.4 assists and 3.9 rebounds, per game when he was on the court. He led the NBA in fourth-quarter points (7.8 per game).

But the Hornets themselves?

They were terrible once again this season, going 19-63. To put that into context, the very first Hornets team — cobbled together from discarded NBA parts in 1988-89 — went 20-62. So, 35 seasons later, these Hornets were one game worse than the Hornets were as an expansion team. That’s damning, no matter how many injuries you have.

Simply put, Ball hasn’t made enough of a difference to the bottom line with the Hornets, who were mostly bad before he got here and remain bad now. The currency of choice in pro sports is victories and championships. Ball has too few of the former and zero of the latter.

The Hornets sport an NBA-worst active streak of nine seasons in a row of missing the playoffs. They watch the postseason at this time every year, swear it will be better over the summer and fall, and then succumb to a bitter reality once again as soon as the games begin to count. Their fan base remains remarkably resilient. The on-court product just went a staggering 44 games under .500.

Could Ball be traded?

All of this losing is why it no longer seems unthinkable to me for the Hornets to trade Ball, if the right gargantuan deal came along. At one point, I would have considered Ball an untouchable. That no longer is the case, even though general manager Jeff Peterson would undoubtedly face some Dallas-style blowback if he ever made such a move and sent his 23-year-old star out of town (I doubt very much that he will).

For his part, Ball said Monday in his end-of-season press availability that Charlotte’s fans and his living situation have both been “amazing” and that he has loved his experience in the Queen City.

So is he bothered by the stubborn rumors placing him elsewhere? Ball said he wasn’t and used a colorful analogy to illustrate the point. Ball said that if his dog were to “p---- on the floor,” that would be something that would bother him.

“But telling me to go somewhere and do this?”

Ball said, laughing. “Nah.” Or, as he further explained: “All that ‘You need to leave’ and this and that — when you build something it’s never just gonna pop off and the best thing. You gotta stay there and work it out.”

Assuming Ball is staying put, something else must change for the Hornets. Their first shot at that happening is May 12, in the NBA draft lottery. By virtue of having one of the worst three records in the NBA, they will now have a 14% chance of getting the No. 1 overall pick, which is all but certain to be Duke’s Cooper Flagg.

Adding Flagg to the Hornets core would likely be enough reverse the playoff drought on its own. He’s that good, and would also make Ball, Brandon Miller and the rest better. When asked about Flagg Monday, Ball was complimentary and said he “for sure” would enjoy playing alongside Flagg.

“He’s definitely a solid NBA player,” Ball said. “Knows what to do. Seem like a solid player all around, for real. Makes all the right reads.”

But there’s also an 86% lottery chance that the Hornets won’t capture the Flagg. And even if they do, Ball must become more of a difference-maker for this team.

Ball’s health

First of all, Ball has to stay on the court. As the old saying goes, one of the most important abilities for any player is availability. Out of a possible 82 games per season over the past three years, Ball has played 36, 22 and 47. His ankles are so problematic that every time he falls down the home crowd hushes.

And then, when he is on the court, Ball must be a better two-way player. Throughout his NBA career, one of the raps on LaMelo has been that he’s going to score a lot, but he’s also going to give up a lot defensively. At 6-7 and 190 pounds, he’s still prone to getting pushed around occasionally. That changed a little in 2024-25 under the new regime of coach Charles Lee and general manager Jeff Peterson, but not enough. They know it, too. As much as they like Ball, they know he has to become stronger, more of a leader and more durable.

“To LaMelo’s credit, he got better defensively,” Peterson said Monday. “If you look at the numbers, look at the tape, his effort not just on the first point of attack but fighting through screens and getting back in there to rebound, his overall level of physicality: he’s one of the best rebounding guards when he wants to be just because of his size and instincts. ... Don’t get me wrong. He can go another step. And that’s going to be the challenge this summer. You clearly can do it. Can you do it consistently on a nightly basis?”

Lee said that Ball had several areas where he could get better.

Ball has ‘got to get stronger’

“Number one is continued body maintenance and improvements,” Lee said. “Getting stronger, being able to not wear down as teams try to be more physical with him, especially as we’re trying to get to that level of play-in and playoffs. ... Teams are trying to deny him, trying to be physical, and you can see early in the year when teams did it, it definitely bothered him. As he got used to it, he got a lot more comfortable, so it’s going to start with his body. He’s got to get stronger and more conditioned to be able to play both sides of the ball and sustain efforts.”

To the credit of Peterson and Lee, they aren’t soft-pedaling what they want to see from Ball.

But I’m starting to wonder how much better Ball is really going to get. His best season remains Year 2 of his five-year career, the one season in which he became an All-Star (and when he also played in a career-high 75 out of 82 games).

Since then, Ball has spent the past three years being hurt too much, and the Hornets in turn have lost too much.

Something has to change. And with the Hornets, that has to start with Ball.

©2025 The Charlotte Observer. Visit at charlotteobserver.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.