Is LaMelo Ball committed to being the best? Hornets’ star faces questions in Year 5

Rather than elaborating and getting overly in depth about any personal goals for the upcoming season, LaMelo Ball chose to keep it simple.

Really simple.

“Pretty much just go out there and stay healthy for real,” the Charlotte Hornets’ star point guard said Monday during the team’s media day. “If I’m healthy, I’m straight.”

That’s Ball in a nutshell. He’s never too chatty publicly, especially when it comes to discussing himself, and doesn’t offer up a diatribe about anything. But even the 23-year-old can’t be impervious to the obvious: he’s in dire need of a bounce back and reverting to the form that propelled him among the NBA’s elite floor generals.

This is a big season for Ball, one that could have significant ramifications on his future in Charlotte, multiple sources have told The Observer. He’s entering the initial year of the first max rookie contract extension in team history, a stern reminder of just how much talent he possesses.

Having the most lucrative deal in the 36 years of pro basketball’s existence in Charlotte — and most expensive in the city’s history — comes with an unmistakable amount of responsibility. That’s just a part of reality that began when the ink dried on Ball’s five-year deal, which could be worth as much as $260 million.

The Hornets desperately hope Ball’s injury woes are behind him and he can catapult himself into that elite stratosphere again.

“Yeah, Melo, he is in a really good place from a health standpoint,” said Jeff Peterson, the Hornets’ president of basketball operations. “He’s had a really, really good summer as well and it’s been neat to see his commitment level. He loves Charlotte and he stayed in Charlotte basically the whole time, which is great.

“He’s put the time in, not only on the court, but in the weight room and training room. He’s in a really good place. I’m excited. I didn’t get to see him play last year when I was here. He was out. So, I’m excited to get to see him and take the next steps.”

Particularly without any pain in his troublesome ankles. At least that’s the plan, anyway.

To assist in keeping Ball on the court and off the daily injury report, the two sides apparently finally found a happy medium regarding some protective equipment. As Miles Bridges noted to The Observer leading into training camp, Ball is already wearing ankle braces and has utilized them for a good part of their recent offseason workouts and pickup games.

“(It’s) not too bad,” Ball said. “Found some good ones, so I think it’s straight.”

Previously, Ball was never too keen on the idea of wearing ankle braces, suggesting they weren’t comfortable and hindered his ability to be and feel like himself. He ditched the braces around this time a year ago after initially trying them, but seems to be on board now with the new custom pair.

“I obviously knew I needed something, but it was pretty much just like feel,” he said. “I would be wearing some and they still would be hurting or something would be rubbing on a part. So, just found some that work.”

That should be music to the Hornets’ ears. Since Charlotte grabbed him in the 2020 NBA Draft after Minnesota selected Anthony Edwards and Golden State took James Wiseman, Ball has mixed in flashes of brilliance with a seemingly inordinate amount of injuries.

In Ball’s four seasons, he’s logged more than 36 games just once — during his All-Star year in 2021-22. This past season, after starting things off slowly as he recovered from March 1 surgery on his right ankle, he couldn’t stay off the injured list— playing in a career-low 22 games due to lingering soreness — and was sidelinedfor the final three months.

It was a continuation of an alarming pattern. Ball has played in only 58 out of 164 potential games in the last two seasons, and the Hornets just aren’t the same team when he’s on the bench in street clothes.

“He’s a special talent,” Grant Williams said. “He’s somebody that with his playmaking ability, with his pace, with his way of impacting the game, both on the offensive and defensive side of the ball and really controlling (things) … (People talk about) Chris Paul controlling the pace of the game. LaMelo does the same, because when you get to running with him, you know the ball is either going to find you or he’s getting a wide open layup.

“So, it’s super fun to be able to play with (him) now, because this is my first experience this summer. Because prior to that he had been injured when I first got here. I’m excited because now he’s doing everything every single day.”

Which, in turn, provides Williams with a different perspective.

“That’s something I feel like people looked back on in the past and was like, ‘Is he really committed?’” Williams said. “He’s committed. He’s a guy that I can say really cares and is really focused on the right things. And he’s taking every single approach, whether it’s the weight room, whether it’s coming to practice, showing up early, leaving late. I’m motivated and excited to be around him and compete with him this season.”

The next trick — and challenge — is to get Ball to crank up things a notch on one of the weaker aspects of his game: defense. The organization as a whole has sought to instill the importance of improving defensively while also ensuring there’s no drop off offensively.

It’s a delicate balancing act, but a necessary step for everyone.

“LaMelo plays with such great joy,” coach Charles Lee said. “And now what we want to see from him is that he has competitive joy and understanding what are the competitive attributes that he needs to bring on a night-in, night-out basis, a day-in, day-out basis in building those proper habits. Because he has this infectious personality (where) when he comes into a building, he bands everybody together.

“Even the way he plays basketball, he brings everybody together with his playmaking. And so now we just have to make sure those efforts competitively are happening defensively and offensively on a night-in, night-out basis.”

The seeds are being sewn and some have noticed.

“During these workouts, when he’s just shooting around and stuff, his coach has him doing defensive drills and everybody else just shoots around,” Bridges said. “So, it’s just him wanting to get better at defense, learning the terminology, being able to talk more on defense. Yeah, just seeing a different Melo on defense this year.”

Yet, in some ways, very little has changed.

“I’m here, still alive, really can’t complain,” Ball said. “Still blessed and I’m able to do what I love, so I’m in a good spot.”