LaMelo Ball Talks Title Aspirations with Hornets: ‘I Want to Be Here for a Long Time’

AP Photo/Nick Wass

Fresh off being named NBA Rookie of the Year last season, LaMelo Ball has his sights set on even bigger things going forward. 

Speaking to Tyler R. Tynes of GQ, the Charlotte Hornets star said winning a championship with the franchise is “definitely the plan.”

“I want to be here for a long time,” he added. “I love the game. I love being around it. This is what I wanted to do with my life.”

Ball was taken by the Hornets with the No. 3 pick in the 2020 NBA draft. He was coming off a disappointing stint with the Illawarra Hawks of the National Basketball League in Australia during the 2019-20 season. 

A foot injury limited Ball to 12 games with the Hawks before he returned to the United States in January 2020 to prepare for the NBA. He averaged 17 points, 7.6 rebounds and 6.8 assists per contest with a 37.5 field-goal percentage. 

At the time of last year’s draft, the Hornets looked like a rudderless ship. Their only star, Kemba Walker, left to join the Boston Celtics in the summer of 2019 in a sign-and-trade deal. 

Charlotte finished the 2019-20 season with a 23-42 overall record and an offense that ranked 29th with a 106.3 rating and last with 102.9 points per game. 

After drafting Ball and acquiring Gordon Hayward in a sign-and trade with the Celtics as a free agent, the Hornets improved to a respectable 33-39 last season. 

The Hornets made the play-in tournament as the No. 10 seed in the Eastern Conference but lost to the Indiana Pacers in the first game. Despite not making the playoffs since the 2015-16 season, they did take positive steps forward in 2020-21. 

Ball is the biggest reason for optimism in Charlotte. The 19-year-old averaged 15.7 points, 6.1 assists and 5.9 rebounds per game in 51 appearances as a rookie.