LaMelo Ball and Charlotte Hornets: Here’s a chance to make the team relevant again

An on-the-rise sports star and a city in urgent need of a winner can dovetail together beautifully.

Think of Cam Newton and Charlotte in the mid-2010s. Magic Johnson and the L.A. Lakers during the Showtime 1980s. Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City right now.

The Queen City has that chance once again, with the Charlotte Hornets and LaMelo Ball.

It’s the only way these Hornets will do anything special, honestly. Ball has to lead the way — not just on the fast break, but in the community. This is a team that needs not only some wins — the Hornets haven’t made the NBA playoffs since 2016, the longest current streak in the league — but also to generate some goodwill after a series of off-the-court issues.

The Hornets will open the 2023-24 season at 7 p.m. Wednesday at home against Atlanta, and they will open it with very low expectations. Oddsmakers have set Charlotte’s over-under at 31.5 wins in an 82-game season, which would put them squarely out of the playoffs and into the NBA lottery. Again.

To compound the low expectations:

Miles Bridges is generating headlines for all the wrong reasons. Again.

Kai Jones has been released from the team, meaning the Hornets drafted someone in the first round who has gone bust in Charlotte. Again.

But LaMelo?

He’s the biggest reason people buy tickets to see the Hornets. He’s the dazzling engine on a squad that is either going to surprise a lot of people or is going to have to start all over next season.

Again.

Here’s a fact you may not know: LaMelo Ball and Carolina Panthers starting quarterback Bryce Young were born exactly four weeks apart, in the summer of 2001.

Young is 28 days older than Ball, an NFL rookie trying to become a star. But Young has yet to win a game as a starter for the 0-6 Panthers and as Houston comes to town Sunday a number of people are asking: “Should the Panthers have drafted CJ Stroud instead?”

Ball? He’s already a star, and those who doubted the wisdom in drafting him No. 3 overall in the 2020 draft (ummm… like me) have been proven very wrong. In his fourth NBA season, Ball has more money than he will ever be able to spend thanks to the lucrative second contract the Hornets coaxed him to sign in July. You can build a future around a guy like that, and now we also know he’s not going anywhere.

Yes, Ball will need a lot of help, and he still needs guidance. Ball only played in 36 of a potential 82 games last season, due to his balky ankles. He’s at least wearing ankle braces this year; he probably should have worn them sooner.

Melo still shoots too many three-pointers for a guy who can get to the rim so well (53% of his shots were threes last season). His defense is still iffy at times.

But he’s a magical passer and remains the Hornets’ best player. And if he gets hurt again this season for an extended period, there’s no way the Hornets will be able to recover.

If Balls plays in at least 70 of the 82 games, this is a team that might put it together. Not will, but might. Ball has decent help in Terry Rozier, Gordon “If He’s Healthy” Hayward, P.J. Washington and No. 2 overall draft pick Brandon Miller.

Bridges, meanwhile, is involved in yet another off-the-court incident that includes allegations that he smashed his ex-girlfriend’s car windshield and violated a domestic protective order. I’d put the odds at 50-50 that Bridges — already suspended for the first 10 games of this season — plays for the Hornets again. For now, he remains on the team, practicing but not playing.

So once again, the news about the Hornets isn’t great. It sounds sadly familiar, to be honest. Troubles off the court. Potential losses on the court.

But if anyone can save the Hornets from themselves this season, it’s Ball. He’ll need an all-star year to make it happen. He’ll need his body to hold up. And wouldn’t it be something if all that occurred? The city — and the Hornets — sure need it to.