Kyrie Irving Believes LaMelo Ball is on Path to be One of the All-Time Greats

Prior to drafting LaMelo Ball, the Hornets were stuck. They weren't bad enough to land a top pick in the draft each year, but weren't good enough to make it to the postseason. When they did hold high draft picks, well, they missed and missed badly.

Ball not only ended the several years of bad picks, but he is changing the narrative and the culture surrounding the Charlotte Hornets organization. For the first time in seemingly forever, the Hornets have an extremely bright future with Ball being the face of the franchise.

At just 20-years-old, Ball has already accomplished so much in the NBA. He won Rookie of the Year last season, made the All-Star game this season, and also has six triple-doubles which is the 3rd-most in NBA history for a player 20 or younger.

With just six games remaining in the season, the Hornets have a 39-37 record and sit in the ninth spot of the Eastern Conference standings. If they can, at minimum, go 3-3 down the stretch, it would give the Hornets its first winning season since 2015-16 when they finished 48-34. Ball is a big part of why this is even possible.

On Sunday night, in a big-time game against the Brooklyn Nets, Ball dropped 33 points and connected on seven three-pointers in the win. The performance didn't go unnoticed by Nets star Kyrie Irving as he praised Ball in his postgame press conference.

"It seems as if we've watched him grow up in basically the public eye since he was 14 and here is with us with a long career ahead of him. There's definitely an impression that he leaves on us every time we play. And he knows that in order to earn his respect in this league, he has to pay his dues but he just has to bring it every single time against the best and I feel like he's been doing that lately. Obviously, he's done it in a short career but he's doing it against the good teams, great teams in this league.

"You really want to see him show his poise, show his talent and see how he makes everybody better. To be doing it at a young age like that, he falls in line with a lot of the greats that have come before him and he's just trailblazing his own path."

After Monday's loss to Denver, I asked LaMelo what he thought of Kyrie's comments, coming from a player that has been one of the best in the game for the last decade. “It’s love, for sure. Kyrie is great at basketball; you’ve already seen what he does. So, it’s much respect.”

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