Hornets’ LaMelo Ball back in Southern California, but it isn’t exactly a homecoming
Charlotte Hornets rookie star LaMelo Ball gets to go home this week. Only, not quite.
Ball, who grew up in Southern California, plays road games against the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers Thursday and Saturday. He hoped that would be the chance for his parents to finally see him live, as he runs away with NBA Rookie of the Year.
No dice. California pandemic regulations preclude fans at games. So LaVar and Tina Ball will watch as they have throughout this season, via television.
“It’ll be cool, them watching on TV, too,” Ball said in a conference call with Los Angeles media Tuesday night. “Chilling at the house, the more comfortable stuff.”
Ball said his parents have yet to see him play in person since the Hornets drafted the 6-foot-7 point guard third overall. The Hornets just began admitting about 3,000 fans at Spectrum Center, after the state of North Carolina loosened restrictions on indoor public events.
Ball is dominating his rookie class, at the top of virtually every statistical category: First in scoring (15.8 per game), assists (6.3), rebounds (6) and steals (1.6). His daring look-ahead passes have become a staple of SportsCenter highlights.
His family can’t see all this up-close, but that doesn’t seem to faze him, after moving to Lithuania and Australia in his teen years to pursue professional basketball.
Ball said being drafted provided a stability he hadn’t had in a while, after two pro stints separated by a year at an Ohio high school, as he prepared for the NBA.
“I thought about that when I left Australia -- that I’d be in the States now, instead of not knowing year-to-year” where he would live, Ball said
Ball was peppered with questions: Would playing at Staples Center or against LeBron James feel different? Who did he idolize in the NBA growing up? To what does he attribute his quick adjustment to the league?
“To be honest, I don’t really look at teams differently,” Ball said of the Lakers, where older brother Lonzo started his NBA career before a trade to New Orleans “I go into every game with the same approach, to get a win.”
While LaMelo enjoyed attending Lakers games in Lonzo’s two seasons with the team, he says that didn’t particularly shape his game, the way playing professionally overseas did or playing up against older kids throughout his upbringing.
“I was enjoying life,” Ball said of watching his brother play. “I wasn’t really looking at it as” studying for a career.
Ball said he’s building a relationship with Hornets owner and six-time NBA MVP Michael Jordan, occasionally calling Jordan for advice.
But as far as the big influence in his life, it’s still very much his parents.
He said his mother actually shaped his jump shot in games of HORSE at the family home. His father was the one who constantly had him play against older guys, boosting him ahead of his age group.
“My Pops,” Ball said of who he looked up to most. “I was big on the family, stuff like that. Not really with the basketball.”
This story was originally published March 16, 2021 at 10:12 PM.
