Why the Hornets' plan to limit LaMelo Ball's minutes doesn't make any sense

It's nights like Thursday that prevent Charlotte Hornets fans from jumping on board with any LaMelo Ball mock trades.

When Melo's in the zone, he's one of the most gifted players on Earth. Such was the case on Thursday against the Atlanta Hawks. Ball finished with 28 points and 13 assists on a laughable 8-of-11 from three, which featured seven (!) threes in the first half.

LaMelo did all of this in just 29 minutes of action, which leads us to an interesting point.

LaMelo Ball's explosive performance against Hawks only made fans more frustrated by his minutes restriction

LaMelo Ball 28 PTS, 4 REB, 13 AST, 1 STL, 10/16 FG, 8/11 3FG, 87.5% TS vs Hawks https://t.co/eOImXOlN8d pic.twitter.com/sRvNl9wHNU
— Basketball Performances (@NBAPerformances) December 19, 2025

Much has been made of LaMelo's durability issues -- which have continued this season -- but even when he's available, Melo is only playing 28.9 minutes per game this season. Kon Knueppel and Miles Bridges both play, on average, at least five more minutes per game than Melo for the Hornets.

When you look across the league, franchise point guards dwarf Melo when it comes to minutes. Tyrese Maxey plays 39.9 minutes per game; Luka Dončić, 37.4; Cade Cunningham, 36.2.

What we've learned is that Melo's minutes diet is a conscious decision by the Hornets' coaching stuff. It's a design to help him avoid injury. HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto wrote about this a few days ago.

“Charlotte Hornets point guard LaMelo Ball has played in 247 of a possible 426 regular-season games to this point in his career, and it's no coincidence that in the one season Ball appeared in 75 games, he was an All-Star,” Scotto wrote. “With the hope of keeping Ball healthy for the duration of the season, Charlotte has attempted to limit his playing time to roughly 30 minutes per game. In Ball's 16 games played this season, he's only played 33 or more minutes six times, including five of his first six games played this season.”

It's an interesting strategy, although not necessarily proven. After all, despite the limited minutes per game, Melo keeps getting hurt. Here's an idea: why not just play Melo normal minutes for a lead guard (35-plus), and then rest him for entire games every now and then?

If Melo's going to suit up and commit to a night of NBA basketball -- and all the physical and mental toll associated with that -- are we really solving his injury issue by playing him 30, rather than 35 minutes?

Furthermore, how are we supposed to know what this team can really look like if Melo is being held back from a minutes standpoint? How are we supposed to know what the true ceiling of this offense is? If the Hornets have a goal to be a playoff team, they should figure out what Ball would look like in a playoff series, playing playoff minutes.

On a side note, LaMelo's numbers and reputation within the league as a star player would be greatly enhanced if he were playing normal minutes for a superstar. (This would also boost his trade value, if Charlotte's really thinking about that).

LaMelo’s now averaging 19.9 points, 8.8 assists, and 5.9 rebounds per game this season. When you scale up his production to a per 36 minutes basis, he looks like an All-Star lock: 24.7 points, 10.9 assists, and 7.3 rebounds.

This permanent minutes restriction thing comes from a good place, but when you're looking at the big picture, it's a bad sign that the Hornets have already decided that their 24-year-old guard shouldn't be playing more than 30 minutes a night.

LaMelo deserves more, the fans deserve more, and if the Hornets are truly interested in building around Ball as a franchise cornerstone, they're going to have to abandon this minutes plan. It's not like it's helping him stay any healthier.

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