LaMelo Ball Exited A Hornets Preseason Game With A Left Ankle Sprain

The Charlotte Hornets enter the 2022-23 season with modest expectations, even after reaching the Play-In last season. Still, there remains a great deal of positivity surrounding LaMelo Ball, and the talented guard is the clear centerpiece of Charlotte’s plans, both in the present and future. On Monday evening, the Hornets welcomed a Southeast Division rival to Charlotte for a preseason game in the form of the Washington Wizards and, in the third quarter, Ball was forced to exit the game with a left ankle sprain.

Ankle sprains are notoriously difficult to peg, as some require only a very brief absence (or none at all), with others taking weeks to heal. As such, it is too early to speculate on any potential timeline for Ball, but he appeared to be in pain and there was no reason whatsoever for the Hornets to even consider reinserting him into the game in a preseason setting.

Ball averaged 20.1 points, 7.6 assists, and 6.7 rebounds per game last season, and he just turned 21 years old in August. While there is room for improvement on the defensive end and elsewhere, Ball is a budding star and, simply put, the Hornets project to rely on him heavily when constructing their offense. Veteran guard Terry Rozier would be in line for even more usage if Ball were to miss time, but the Hornets can ill afford to be without Ball for any extended period, and Charlotte opens its regular season schedule with a road game against the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday, Oct. 19.

On the other side, the Wizards likewise saw a star go down with an ankle injury when Kristaps Porzingis came up limping after a Eurostep layup attempt.