LaMelo Ball is one of six first-time NBA All-Stars this season, as the 2021 Rookie of the Year earned a selection from commissioner Adam Silver to replace the injured Kevin Durant in Cleveland. Ball has had an excellent sophomore campaign in Charlotte, averaging 20.1 points, 7.5 assists, and seven rebounds per game on a 42.7/37.3/86.7 shooting split.
He’s been given the reins in Charlotte and taken another step forward despite the increased responsibility placed on his young shoulders, improving in just about every area — from his shooting efficiency to ball security — as the Hornets arrive at the week before All-Star at 29-29.
It’s undoubtedly production worthy of an All-Star nod, but more importantly, Ball’s game deserves the freedom of creativity that the All-Star exhibition provides. We, as basketball fans, deserve to see him fully unleashed in an All-Star format that’s built for him to thrive. Few players try more ambitious passes in actual NBA games than Ball, who has a preternatural ability to see passing lanes before they open up, already knocking on the door of the elite tier of facilitators like Nikola Jokic, LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Trae Young. Like the latter two in that group, Ball has exceptional flair to his game, an audaciousness that’s at the foundation of his game, weaved into his basketball DNA.
This is someone who scored 92 points in a high school game as a freshman. Every movement on his road to the league, both on and off the floor, have been documented, and for the bumps that he hit on that path, it’s also what makes him built for the All-Star stage. He’ll embrace the bright lights and the opportunity to steal the show in a game that will highlight his strengths as a shooter, fearless facilitator, and fastbreak catalyst, while not caring about the areas of his game he’s still rounding out, like on the defensive end. Few players in the league are as exciting as Ball when he’s pushing things in transition and is running alongside a lob threat, and there will always be at least two or three of those on the floor with him in the All-Star Game.
Ball does things like this in the early third quarter of a three-point game in actual NBA competition, just imagine what he’ll do in an All-Star Game that regularly sees players trying to throw themselves lobs off the backboard.
The All-Star Game is about fun, and there are few players who seem to have a better time playing professional basketball than LaMelo Ball. He has been destined for this moment since he was a teenager, and we can’t wait to see what he does now that he gets to grace that stage.
