LaMelo Ball is proving his doubters wrong, looking like a serious, winning player

The biggest issue with LaMelo Ball, according to the wider NBA world, is that he doesn't win basketball games. He also struggles with health, but his record as a starter with the Charlotte Hornets has been dreadful.

The claim is only fueled further by Ball's whimsical play style. He shoots one-legged threes, tries creative passes, and does things no other NBA player would even attempt. It's fun, but, according to many, it won't win basketball games.

In 2025-26, though, things at least look different. It's only been three games, but Ball certainly seems to have found a nice balance between his wild play style and doing things that will help win more games.

LaMelo Ball is off to a really stellar start

The Charlotte Hornets are 2-1 to start the year, and it can be argued that they should be 3-0. A tough road loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, a potential playoff team, isn't bad, but when they led by 10 very late in the fourth, it's a hard one to swallow.

That game holds maybe the only "unserious" moment for Ball. He attempted a one-legged stepback three with the game tied in the final minute. It wasn't a great shot, but it was one he hit earlier in the game. He didn't hit it that time, and the Hornets lost, though it's difficult to place the blame for the mini-collapse all on that shot.

Otherwise, Ball has not only been excellent, but he's been everything the media has thought he wasn't. In the opener, he stopped shooting because the shot wasn't falling. In the past, Ball has adopted the "shooters shoot" mantra and kept shooting until it fell. That led to some ugly shooting percentages.

However, in the blowout win over the Brooklyn Nets, he shot much less after he got off to a slow start. He still ended up shooting a strong 7/15, but there was a clear shift from shooting to playmaking during the game that prior iterations of Ball would've ignored.

In the loss to the 76ers, Ball was highly engaged on the defensive end. In fact, Ball's 105.7 defensive rating is so much better than his best career marks. He's much more of a defender now, which isn't saying much since the bar was so low, but it's a huge change for Ball.

In game three against the Washington Wizards, who somehow swept the Hornets in 2024-25, Washington was up pretty big in the second half. Without Brandon Miller and with Miles Bridges enjoying a rough shooting day, Ball had to be Superman to carry his team to a win.

It's impossible to describe how good he was in the second half yesterday, but he finished with 38 points, 13 rebounds, and 13 assists. He also had three steals on the defensive end. What was looking like a loss turned into a blowout, and Ball led the way on that.

Ball has had epic stat lines like that before, but they usually don't come in wins. He had a 50-point double-double in a loss last season, fueling the narrative that he's an empty stats guy. That may not be the case anymore.

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