Charlotte Hornets All-Star point guard LaMelo Ball has been ailing early into the club's up-and-down 2025-26 NBA season.
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Per the league's most recent injury report, Ball had been merely questionable to suit up for a road game Tuesday night against the 0-6 New Orleans Pelicans, due to a right ankle impingement.
Underdog NBA now reports that Ball has now been ruled out for the matchup.
The 6-foot-7 point guard, 24, has been averaging 23.3 points on.430/.333/.815 shooting splits and career highs of 9.8 dimes, 7.8 boards and 1.7 steals across his first six healthy games of the season.
Injuries and roster issues have been hampering Ball throughout his pro career thus far. He has only played more than 51 games once, during his lone All-Star season in 2021-22. That season, Ball was healthy for 75 games and guided Charlotte to a 43-39 record and the No. 9 seed in the East. The Hornets were booted out of the play-in tournament that spring.
When available, Ball's flashy offense has made him into something of a human highlight reel, and earned him a five-year, $203.9 million maximum rookie-scale contract extension with the Hornets in 2023.
New Orleans has been such a mess, despite being largely healthy (although two-time All-Star Pelicans forward Zion Williamson has been sidelined for the next seven-to-10 days with a left hamstring strain), that Charlotte might still be able to pull out a win against the reeling club, even without Ball or sidelined forward Brandon Miller.
The action is set to tip off at 8 p.m. ET.
More Hornets news:
- Hornets crumble in second half, fall to Timberwolves at home
- Charlotte linked to 'dream' trade target from Eastern Conference contender
- Hornets rookie Kon Knueppel impresses with scorching shooting splits
- LaMelo Ball breaks into top 10 on Hornets’ all-time steals list