LaMelo Ball Injury Concerns Are Valid, but He's Worth the Risk

Minnesota's newest All-Star point guard has a concerning injury history, but the team was right for still bringing him in.

LaMelo Ball has a concerning injury history in the NBA, but the Minnesota Timberwolves were right not to let that deter them from trading for him this summer. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Timberwolves general manager Matt Lloyd doesn’t believe that assuming LaMelo Ball’s lengthy injury history will continue into his time in Minnesota is necessarily the right way to look at things.

“That would kind of put a negative spin on it,” Lloyd said on the Flagrant Howls podcast earlier this month. “We have to assume that we are going to get the version that they saw last year in the 72 games he played.”

Lloyd’s assumption, or at least his public assumption, may be naively hopeful to a certain extent. Based on Ball’s track record, there is a real chance he plays fewer than the 72 games that he played last season, and the Wolves have to make up for him missing a prolonged stretch of games. 

The concerns around Ball's health are valid. The Wolves have built a plan around a new player who must stay healthy at a rate he has yet to prove he can maintain. With all of that in mind, however, Minnesota was still right in not letting that deter it from trading for him this summer.

Players like Ball rarely become available

Ball is 25 years old. He is a one-time All-Star and one of the NBA’s best passing point guards, all of which comes packaged into a 6’7” frame. There are very few players who fit the criteria of being an offense-leading passer at point guard while also being 26 years old or younger. And players who do fit that mold (Cade Cunningham and Tyrese Haliburton) are like quarterbacks in the NFL, in my eyes. When a team has a good one, they don’t let them go. Instead, they build around them.

But the Hornets let Ball go for Naz Reid, a first-round pick in 2033, three first-round pick swaps, and three second-round pick swaps. Charlotte is coming off a red-hot regular-season finish, which launched itself into postseason play (by way of the Play-In Tournament) for the first time since Ball’s sophomore 2021-22 season. During that stretch, Charlotte’s All-Star point guard made its offense hum at a consistently competitive level.

It is fair to question why Charlotte was willing to part ways with Ball this offseason. Perhaps it was his injury history, or maybe the Hornets viewed him as dispensable because of the supporting cast around him.

For whatever reason, Charlotte didn’t view Ball as its franchise “quarterback,” and the Wolves are investing in him being that type of offensive driver. The Wolves are also investing in him being healthy at a rate he has yet to show he can be.

The chance this all blows up is real

Ball could play 50 or fewer games this season. His time with the Wolves (however long that ends up being) could be remembered as an injury-riddled stretch full of what-ifs, and this could all blow up in the faces of Minnesota's front office. Or Ball could be relatively healthy, with the Wolves having to go through perhaps a week-long stretch here and there where he is hobbled on the bench with an injury. But in that situation, the Wolves feel they have enough depth to compensate.

“If he does face injuries, we are lucky enough to have Ayo [Dosunmu] and Anthony [Edwards],” Lloyd said on the Flagrant Howls podcast. “We are lucky to have Jonathan Kuminga and Jaden [McDaniels]. We have layers of players we can go to compensate for that.”

After leading the Hornets to a Play-In appearance, LaMelo Ball finds himself on a new team. Why would Charlotte trade him after such a successful season? Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Dosunmu, while not the pure point guard talent that Ball is, is still more than capable of starting and carrying a relatively heavy offensive load. His scoring provides a safety net for Ball, should he suffer a severe injury this season that keeps him out for an extended period.

Lloyd is right in that Chris Finch will have layers he can pull back if Ball suffers an injury. The Wolves, as they did last season, will certainly feel the absence of a true point guard. But there is enough scoring depth elsewhere to reasonably think Minnesota could get by for a week or so without Ball.

Ideally, none of this will be relevant. If Lloyd’s positive spin is correct, Ball will play at least 72 regular-season games and the likely 20+ postseason games required to win a championship. But right now, with the season under two months away, it is reasonable for fans to have concerns about Ball’s ability to stay healthy consistently in a Timberwolves uniform.

This could all blow up in their face. The negative spin that Lloyd wants to avoid could loop back around to bite him and Minnesota’s front office. That is the risk they take in any sizable move, especially one for an All-Star with question marks regarding his health. However, the Wolves were right in not letting that risk deter them from trading for him.

Ball’s talent, at his age, is rarely made available on the trade market. And when it did, the Wolves pounced on the risk-filled opportunity to bring in the point guard who directly fixes their biggest issue from last season.

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