The Charlotte Hornets reported on Sunday that new kid on the block LaMelo Ball has a broken bone in his right wrist.
Ball endured the injury during Saturday’s misfortune to the Los Angeles Clippers. An MRI on Sunday affirmed the initial diagnosis of a broken bone, as indicated by the Hornets. The group recorded Ball as out inconclusively. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Ball is relied upon to miss the rest of the season.
Ball seemed to endure the injury from the get-go in Saturday’s game. He got back to the game prior to leaving for great in the final quarter.
“It looked to me like he was having some discomfort there so I took him out,” Hornets coach James Borrego said Saturday, per Hornets reporter Rod Boone.
Ball has been a sensation since joining the Hornets as the No. 3 pick in the 2020 NBA draft, outperforming grand expectations while starting to lead the pack in the Rookie of the Year race. Through 41 games, Ball was averaging 15.9 points, 6.1 assists and 5.9 bounce back. He immediately scattered early worries about his shooting and is interfacing on 45.1% of his field goals and 37.5% of his 3-point attempts.
His appearance helped lift a Hornets team that completed 23-42 last season to a 20-21 record in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff hunt. His nonappearance is a major hit to the Hornets and the NBA as Ball projects as one of the league’s next stars.