NBA
Ankle Injuries Are Sadly Pilling Up This Season For LaMelo Ball, Charlotte’s All-Star PG Suffered A Fractured Ankle Last Night
Zach Wolpin is an NBA and NFL expert who's been betting on the league for over three years now. Wolpin has been a fan of the NBA and has been watching for a decade and a half. He covers the latest news and stories surrounding the league daily. His passion in life is watching sports and being able to share that through his sports writing. He has written about the NBA and other sports leagues through various media outlets over the years like Sir Charles In Charge, G-Men HQ, and TAP into South Plainfield. Before he became an NBA News Writer, Wolpin attended Montclair State University where he graduated in 2021. He studied Sports Media and Writing while in school.
All posts by Zach WolpinUpdated28 Feb 2023
The 2021-22 Charlotte Hornets last season had their first winning record to end the year since 2015-16. Fast-forward to this season and the results are not quite the same. At 20-43 after a win vs the Detroit Pistons last night, the Hornets are 14th in the East. Their all-star PG LaMelo Ball has been injury plagued all season long and it continued last night as well. Ball went down with a non-contact injury and the team announced that he suffered a fractured ankle.
Ball played in just 36 of the Hornets’ 63 games so far this season and his injury last night may have been an early-end to his 2022-23 season. He’s had four separate ankle injuries this season and three of them were on the same ankle.
Head coach Steve Clifford hasn’t had Ball for 43 percent of their games this season, so he’ll be able to adjust to using depth on the roster. At 14th in the Eastern Conference, NBA betting sites have the Hornets at over (+100000) to win the Finals this season.
OFFICIAL: LaMelo Ball suffered a fracture in his right ankle in tonight’s home game vs. Detroit.
Presented by @novanthealth
— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) February 28, 2023
LaMelo Ball’s season likely over after suffering a fractured ankle last night vs the Pistons
In 21 minutes played last night, Ball finished the game with 18 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and was 6-7 from deep. He went down on a non-contact injury after doing a behind the back dribble and landed awkwardly on his right ankle. Ball was immediately grimacing on the ground and was subbed out of the game.
After the Hornets 117-106 win vs the Pistons, the team social media account posted an injury update. They let everyone know that he suffered a fracture in his right ankle and that was his healthy ankle. Ball had already sprained his left ankle three times this season.
LaMelo Ball headed back to the locker room after awkwardly falling on this play. pic.twitter.com/wirzYaHCZN
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) February 28, 2023
The 21 year old missed the first 13 games of the season with a grade 2 ankle sprain. After just three games back he then re-injured the same ankle and missed another 11 straight games. In the 36 games he played this season, Ball was averaging a career-high in points (23.3), assists (8.4) and minutes played (35.2) per game.
Charlotte is a bottom four team in the league right now and they will certainly be in the running for one of the top lottery picks in the upcoming draft.
