Charlotte Hornets’ LaMelo Ball Named Most Overrated Player in NBA
Charlotte Hornets point guard LaMelo Ball has been named the most overrated player in the NBA.
NBA writer Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report thinks Ball is the most overrated player in the league heading into next season.
“While he can (and often does) overstuff a stat sheet, though, it all looks like there’s way more sizzle than actual substance. Maybe that’s the byproduct of playing on some bad teams in Buzz City, but he has enough box-score blemishes to question his ability to contribute to winning basketball,” Buckley wrote.
“He draws almost mythical praise as this offensive savant, but the numbers don’t buy it. A lack of offensive support can only forgive so much inefficiency. While he averaged a career-best 25.2 points this past season, he did so while posting a career-worst 53.6 percent true shooting percentage. It marked the fifth-worst shooting rate among the 162 times a player has averaged 25-plus points since 2010.”
The Hornets drafted LaMelo Ball with the third overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. Ball won the 2020-21 Rookie of the Year Award and made the 2022 All-Star team.
Charlotte is 98-133 when Ball plays. Ball, who turns 24 in August, has career averages of 21.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 7.4 assists in 231 NBA games. The most games he’s played in during a season are 75.
“And since his ingenious passes are often interspersed with careless mistakes, there’s never been this cavernous gap between his averages in assists (7.4 for his career) and turnovers (3.3). He’s also on a three-year run of delivering negative defensive box plus/minuses,” Buckley wrote. “Oh, he’s also made more than 51 appearances in just one of his first five NBA seasons. Over the past three seasons, he has suited up in just 105 of a possible 246 games. For context, that’s 24 fewer appearances than Zion Williamson, perhaps the league’s poster child for injury-prone stars.
“At least when Williamson suits up, great things tend to happen (25.1 career PER, 24.2 win shares). And unless we’re talking viral views or social media impressions, the same just can’t be said of Ball (18.9 and 13.6, respectively). He might be regarded as a star in stature, but in terms of statistical value, his name recognition carries a lot more weight than his actual numbers.”
The Hornets signed Ball to a five-year, $203 million extension in 2023. Ball will make $37.9 million next season.
Ball played in 47 games for Charlotte last season. He averaged 25.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 7.4 assists.
The Hornets haven’t made the playoffs since 2016.
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