No Love for LaMelo Ball? Why Hornets Guard May Have Missed Out on All-NBA Nod

Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball did not make an All-NBA team last night. He was expected to contend for a spot on the All-NBA Third-Team, but he ended up missing out. It's hard to say he was truly snubbed, but he definitely wouldn't have been the most undeserving player on the team.

LaMelo Ball received five 2025-26 All-NBA Third Team votes. pic.twitter.com/O8Q8WxhEoH
— r/CharlotteHornets (@HornetsReddit) May 24, 2026

Unfortunately, Ball fell into the "others receiving votes" category, and he wasn't particularly close to landing an All-NBA nod. He had five votes, which is fewer than Karl-Anthony Towns, Deni Avdija, and Scottie Barnes.

It's more, however, than Bam Adebayo, James Harden, Alperen Sengun, Derrick White, and a handful of others, too. That's a small consolation prize. Why didn't Ball get more love for Third-Team? Was he really that much worse than Towns, Avdija, Barnes, Jamal Murray, Tyrese Maxey, and the others who did make the Third-Team?

The NBA is full of talent. To be All-NBA, one must essentially be a top-15 player that year, which is an incredibly high bar. Ball, based on the voting, was more or less considered a top-20 player, which means he was extremely good.

Ball was healthy, and the Hornets won basketball games for the first time in forever. There's a world where that is enough to get him a nod, but it's not this world, and the primary reason is his efficiency.

People who watch the Hornets know that efficiency really doesn't matter for Ball. He is going to shoot poorly more often than not, but that's not necessarily a flaw in the offense or a bad thing. His willingness to keep shooting makes him a constant threat to the defense.

Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball (1) reacts after a basket against the New York Knicks | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

A lot of his metrics are more than worthy of All-NBA: 123.2 offensive rating, +9.9 on/off split, 9.1 net rating, 38.4% assist percentage, among others. But some of the other advanced metrics, which heavily favor efficiency, did not like Ball.

His PER is outside the top 50. So is his Player Impact Estimate, Estimated Wins Added, Value Added, and of course, his true shooting. The name of the game is scoring, and shooting it efficiently has become the most important thing. Ball doesn't do that.

So while some voters, five to be exact, were willing to overlook the efficiency because it's so painfully clear that Ball was the offensive engine for one of the best offenses in the NBA and one of the best offensive players (the ORTG doesn't lie) in the sport, others weren't.

Now, if the Hornets can keep him healthy and performing at this level for a full season next year instead of starting 16-27, their team record might be better, and Ball will perhaps get a boost from that. Otherwise, this just proves how hard it is to make an All-NBA team.

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