Hornets’ LaMelo Ball had a tough bout with COVID. Now, he’s ready to be unleashed again
It went down exactly two weeks ago during what was supposed to be a relaxing, much needed three-day break in between games.
LaMelo Ball just knew something was amiss.
“I was about to eat some dinner,” the Charlotte Hornets point guard said Friday. “I’m like, ‘Hold on. It’s cold as hell.’ And then I’m asking people like, ‘Are y’all cold?’ They are like, ‘Nah, I’m not cold. You are trippin.’ ”
Their reaction meant Ball’s body started giving him hints about what was next.
“I’m like, ‘Ahh, s—,’ ” Ball said. “And then that night right there, that’s when it hit. I took like nine showers because I’d go to sleep for like 30 minutes, wake up and be sweating. And I’d go shower. Then I’d go to bed, be cold as hell and wake up, take a hot shower.”
But a rough bout with COVID is behind the 20-year-old now and he cleared the NBA’s health and safety protocols earlier in the week. So following a 14-day absence, Ball was back in action for the Hornets in their 125-116 loss to Portland at the Moda Center.
He showed no signs of rust after missing six games, pumping in a team-best 27 points to go with five assists and four rebounds.
“It was great to come back,” Ball said. “Sitting out not touching the ball was horrible. Coming back touching the ball was a blessing.”
Sidelined since Dec. 4 when he initially got put on the league’s health and safety protocols list, Ball at one point was joined by Terry Rozier, Mason Plumlee, Jalen McDaniels and Ish Smith on the list. All but one of them sprinkled back throughout the week. Smith was placed in protocols two days later than the others and didn’t clear until Tuesday, becoming available again Friday to be a part of the rotation if called upon.
Ball’s smile was beaming as usual while he went through Charlotte’s morning shootaround routine, his first full-fledged activity with his teammates since their Dec. 1 loss in Milwaukee. The emotional boost is certainly welcome for the Hornets, who managed to tread water at 3-3 while their leading scorer was out.
“LaMelo always adds juice and energy to our group,” coach James Borrego said. “You can feel his energy, his spirit. Obviously, we’ve just got to make sure he’s healthy and he’s right first. And we’ll just have to evaluate that as the game goes on. But just having him back with our group, his spirit, his energy, brings a great jolt to our program right now.”
Determining precisely the number of minutes to play Ball, particularly early on in the process, is a slight challenge for Borrego because every player reacts differently in their initial stints in game action. Ball spent three days practicing with the Greensboro Swarm — giving him an opportunity to be on the court with older brother LiAngelo — so he could utilize it for conditioning.
That isn’t the same as chasing around, say, Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard. But the Hornets did as much as they could to make sure he was ready, even dialing him up via video conferencing and other methods while he was out.
“He was on a couple of Zoom calls, Ish was on there,” Borrego said. “They had more fun on the Zoom call … I’m not sure they listened to anything we said on the film. I’m not sure they watched anything. They had fun picking at each other and calling each other out. But we did do a few Zoom sessions to keep him up to speed. I sent him some stuff via text, some new sets, different things, end-of-game. Not just him but the group as a whole, just to keep them in the loop.”
Remember, Ball’s physically activity prior to his G League assignment was minimal, at best. But he wound up logging 28:36 versus the Trail Blazers and was held to mostly five-minute stretches until the fourth quarter. Not bad considering how things were for him just a week or so ago.
“Pretty much I was just sleeping the whole day,” Ball said. “I felt so tired. I couldn’t do nothing. And my head was pounding. Then I would go from cold to hot, sleep. I’m just tired now.”
Knowing the Hornets are finally at full strength perks him up.
“It’s a blessing, especially with everything going around,” Ball said. “It feels like we are very blessed to have the whole team. And as you can see it’s more and more people. Every time on Twitter, I see it, somebody else’s name.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2021 at 5:27 PM.
