Will LaMelo Ball Ever Reach All-Star Status Again?

After playing in just 184 games in four seasons, Ball's return to All-Star status is uncertain

LaMelo Ball has already achieved more than most NBA players do in an entire career. He won Rookie of the Year in 2021, was the 4th youngest All-Star in NBA history behind LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson (Albeit as an injury replacement) and set the record for the youngest player in league history with a triple double, until Josh Giddey broke it one year later.

Ball has also infrequently been seen on the basketball court, playing in only 184 games out of 328 over his first four seasons. Any star player who finds themselves in street clothes as often as LaMelo will bear the brunt of criticism from impatient fans. Some will claim he's soft, others that he doesn't want to play for a lifeless Hornets team, but let's look at the facts.

During his rookie year, Ball rushed back from his wrist injury to help the Hornets make a post-season push. Then, in year three he came back early from an ankle sprain in an attempt to save the season only to re-injure it stepping on a fan's foot. This season he returned for a handful of games before experiencing more soreness, there was a sense he was approaching a return in March but it never came to fruition.

The sense I get from those around the team is Ball could have returned towards the end of this season, but at this point why risk it when jostling the Spurs for lottery position. Can you imagine the outrage if he came back and picked up another injury losing valuable time in the off-season to rehab?

For fans it is infuriating, from a long term basketball strategy perspective, it's the logical move. I would take any public comments from Steve Clifford about Ball's ankle not responding with a pinch of salt, he has to make sure the NBA don't fine the Hornets for potentially sitting healthy players.

But what will the impact on Ball's development be after missing so much time, can he ever return to an All-Star level? It's clear he has a natural feel for the game that won't go away, but there are also some very real weaknesses that he needs to address. This had me thinking, over the past 10 seasons how many other players have become All-Stars after missing significant time early in their career?

All-Stars from 2014-2024 who missed significant time in their first four seasons

The good news, both Zion Williamson and Joel Embiid played significantly less games than Ball in their first four seasons and now rank in the upper echelons of the NBA. The bad news, those are the only two players out of the last 240 all-stars to reach that level after missing the same or more amount of time than Ball. The likes of Steph Curry and Anthony Davis, who NBA history labelled as "Injury prone" young players had almost played another entire season's worth of basketball at the same stage as LaMelo Ball. Yikes.

Of the players on the above list, Steph Curry is the only player who one could argue completely overcame their injuries. The rest have regularly dealt with injuries throughout their career, suggesting some people's bodies aren't built for the rigours of an NBA season. Ball's career path so far suggests he might fall into this category, talented but never far from the next injury.

Each situation is unique, and we shouldn't always rely on history as the rule, there are always exceptions and LaMelo Ball might be one of them. Ball's injury's haven't included any ACL or Achilles tears, or fractures to slow healing bones like Navicular fractures. A broken wrist, a broken ankle and some sprained ankle tendons registers somewhere around a 5 on the long-term injury 1-10 panic scale. Ball also showed earlier this season after a slow start, he is still finding ways to improve his game despite limited time on the court. Whenever Ball has played for the Hornets, he's made an all-star level impact on the game as I outlined last off-season.

For Hornets fans, they will have to hope that LaMelo Ball is the exception, or they could be struck with buyers regret for Ball's 5-year $260 maximum contract. Some will use hindsight to point to that as a mistake, but any team in Charlotte's position would have given that contract out at the time. If Ball had only played a 22 game season before extension talks started instead of his 51 or 75 game season, then perhaps there would have been more caution with some injury non-guarantees.

The past is the past, all the Hornets can do now is hope LaMelo Ball can do what Embiid and Zion did, returning to an All-Star level and bringing joy back to Buzz City.