Exciting stat might just dispel the negative narrative around LaMelo Ball

The narrative around LaMelo Ball is that he's an inefficient shot-chucker. This is why the NBA media believes he'll never be the best player on a winning team because he doesn't play "winning basketball." Sure, he's averaging a lot of points, but have you seen how often he shoots the ball?

It's not always an unfair criticism. Ball does shoot a ton, and his shot selection is not always the best. It's the sort of situation where the Charlotte Hornets have to live with the bad so they can get the good from Ball.

Ball doesn't qualify, but he would lead the NBA in shot attempts if he did. He's averaging 22.8 shots per game, which is more than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Tyrese Maxey, who are taking 21.5 shots each night. Those two players have a very different perception league-wide than Ball.

The most important chart for scorers.

Efficiently scoring on volume is the most important thing in basketball. Players in the top right are the most valuable players in the league

-True shooting% combines a players 2pt, 3pt, and FT% into one number pic.twitter.com/38viEHGcE9
— Taylor Wyman (@taylormetrics) February 18, 2025

A new stat has surfaced that seeks to showcase how efficient players are relative to how much they score. As with most of these scatter plots, the top-right quadrant is where players want to be. That's where Nikola Jokic, Gilgeous-Alexander, and Giannis Antetokounmpo are.

Ball ranks just to the left of the middle in terms of his true shooting percentage, but he's one of just three players who are above 30 points per 75 possessions (Gilgeous-Alexander and Antetokounmpo). His efficiency is often called into question, but he's in a similar efficiency vein as Luka Doncic, Maxey, Cade Cunningham, and Ja Morant. Those players aren't labeled inefficient shot-chuckers.

Feb 7, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball (1) with a jump shot against the San Antonio Spurs during the second half at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Ball ranks higher on that scale than Paolo Banchero, Alperen Sengun, and Scottie Barnes, all gifted players who spend a lot more time shooting close to the rim than Ball does. It would be great to see Ball in a category up with Antetokounmpo and Gilgeous-Alexander, but the Hornets star is certainly more valuable in his scoring than the box scores might indicate.

There's also a case to be made that Ball has to play like this. The Hornets don't have a good roster around Ball. Miles Bridges seems to be his best teammate, at least based on the graph above. A few other Hornets rank pretty poorly. Moussa Diabate has good true shooting, but he's not scoring much at all.

Tidjane Salaun and Vasilije Micic, though Micic is no longer with the Hornets, are among the worst in the NBA on this chart. These are the sort of teammates Ball has to work with, so it's easy to see why he shoots so often. And yet, his efficiency isn't nearly as bad as some would have you believe.

The Hornets have a decision to make on Ball. Do they hold on to someone who shoots (and misses) a lot and is injury-prone? Maybe this stat, and the Hornets front office undoubtedly has countless stats like this to provide as much data, will show them that the concerns on one of those criticisms might be a little unfounded.

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