Charlotte Hornets

Charlotte Hornets star Gordon Hayward was ruled out in the fourth quarter of Monday's loss to the Utah Jazz when he re-aggravated an injury to his right hand.

Hayward already dealt with a fractured finger and back injury this season. He also revealed in January that he underwent foot surgery during the offseason, and there are always lingering injury concerns given how much time he missed on the Boston Celtics with ankle injuries.

When healthy, the Butler product is a dangerous offensive playmaker with the ability to hit from three-point range and attack the basket off the bounce.

Hayward averaged 17.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game last season with the Celtics and has responded with 21.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists a night during his first season in Charlotte.

While he is one of the team's go-to scorers, there are other options on the wing. Look for the combination of Miles Bridges, Malik Monk and Cody Martin to see more playing time if Hayward is sidelined following this latest setback.

Charlotte Hornets commentator and former Hornets player Dell Curry showered praise of Hornets rookie guard LaMelo Ball in an interview Saturday.

Speaking with Anthony Slater of The Athletic, Curry had nothing but good things to say about the likely NBA Rookie of the Year front-runner: "My early impression is he's better than everyone thought. Better than what I thought, no doubt. Shoots it enough to keep everybody honest. More important, what I'm impressed with is the person he is."

Curry added:

"I can tell you his teammates love him, his coach loves him. He is fun to watch. He is fun to play with. He makes it fun to call a game every night. Because you don't know what's going to happen, but something good is going to happen. The other night he had an average game and almost had a triple-double.

"But just the joy he plays with, it's always about the next play. He never gets down. He keeps it real with himself. When he misses a shot badly, with no fans and the microphones, we can hear everything. He's honest with himself. He laughs at himself. That's big in the NBA, when you don't take yourself so serious, where you can handle your mistakes but also learn from them. He's a special player."

The Hornets made Ball the No. 3 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, and he hasn't disappointed during the early stages of his career.

In 28 games (eight starts), Ball is averaging 14.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game while shooting 43.7 percent from the field and 35.4 percent from beyond the arc.

He is outperforming the two players taken before him in Anthony Edwards and James Wiseman, and he has the Hornets exceeding expectations as a team, too.

Charlotte entered the 2020-21 season having missed the playoffs four straight years, but with a 13-15 record, it currently occupies the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Ball seemingly has a penchant for making those around him better, as Gordon Hayward, Terry Rozier, Devonte' Graham and P.J. Washington are among the Hornets players who have been highly productive this season.

At 19 years of age, Ball already looks like a fairly complete NBA player, and his ceiling appears extremely high.

Michael Jordan announced Monday he will donate $10 million to Novant Health to help open two new health clinics in New Hanover County, North Carolina, near his hometown of Wilmington.

CBS This Morning provided more details on the announcement:

"Everyone should have access to quality health care, no matter where they live, or whether or not they have insurance," Jordan said. "Wilmington holds a special place in my heart, and it's truly gratifying to be able to give back to the community that supported me throughout my life."

The Basketball Hall of Famer previously partnered with Novant Health to create the Michael Jordan Family Clinics in Charlotte, North Carolina. These facilities provide comprehensive primary care, including behavioral health and social support services, and have also been critical during the COVID-19 response over the past year.

Nearly 1,000 COVID-19 vaccines have been administered at these clinics.

The new facilities will have a similar model and provide help to those in rural areas, assisting those who are uninsured or underinsured.

The clinics are expected to open early next year.

Jordan has now donated $17 million in the past few years to Novant, continuing a trend of charitable donations from the Charlotte Hornets governor that also includes a $2 million donation to Feeding America in November.

Charlotte Hornets forward Gordon Hayward has been ruled out for Sunday's game vs. the San Antonio Spurs with lower back discomfort, per Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated.   

The 30-year-old has averaged a career-high 22.3 points to go along with 5.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists in his first year with the Hornets, who signed the ex-Utah Jazz and Boston Celtic player to a four-year, $120 million contract last offseason.

Hayward has enjoyed much personal success in Charlotte, and the Hornets have improved from last year's 23-42 mark with a 13-14 record this year, which could be good enough for the playoffs if they maintain their current pace.

The Butler product has missed significant time with injuries in the past, notably a season-ending dislocated left ankle and a fractured tibia just minutes into his Celtics tenure in Oct. 2017. He also missed a month with a fractured left hand in 2019 and another month during the 2019-20 postseason with a Grade 3 right ankle sprain.

He's missed one game thus far in 2020-21, sitting a Jan. 14 contest against the Toronto Raptors with a left hip strain.

Caleb Martin entered the starting lineup for Hayward last time around and should see a bump in minutes on Sunday with Hayward unavailable. 

The NBA wants Charlotte Hornets rookie point guard LaMelo Ball to participate in the All-Star skills competition, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski (4:50 mark).

"I'm told that one player the league would really like to get involved in that skills competition: The Rookie of the Year favorite right now, Charlotte's LaMelo Ball," Wojnarowski said.

The No. 3 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft entered the Hornets' starting lineup for good on Feb. 1. The 19-year-old averaged 21.7 points, 6.3 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game in six starts prior to Friday.

Ball is the undisputed Rookie of the Year favorite and one the game's brightest young stars already, and he would certainly make the skills competition more exciting.

The NBA and NBPA are aiming to hold truncated one-day All-Star festivities amid the COVID-19 pandemic on Sunday, March 7 in Atlanta, per Wojnarowski.

The league plans to hold the skills and three-point competitions before the All-Star Game. The Slam Dunk contest is set to take place during halftime of the All-Star Game, with the ASG's second half concluding the day's events. 

Charlotte Hornets rookie guard LaMelo Ball endorsed a clever nickname idea for his connection with teammate Miles Bridges on Friday.

Vacation rental home company Airbnb suggested Ball and Bridges use its name to refer to themselves, and Ball was an instant fan of the proposal:

Ball and Bridges have been a great combo this season with Ball often putting Bridges in great positions to score and finding him on some highlight-reel alley-oops as well.

The 19-year-old Ball, who was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, looks like the Rookie of the Year front-runner right now with averages of 14.3 points, 6.1 assists, 5.8 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game.

Meanwhile, Bridges is showing significant improvement in his third NBA season.

Bridges is averaging 10.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game in a sixth-man role, and he is shooting 46.9 percent from the field and 37.6 percent from beyond the arc, which are up significantly from last season's 42.4 percent and 33.0 percent.

With Ball and Bridges performing beyond expectations, and the likes of Gordon Hayward, Terry Rozier, P.J. Washington and Devonte' Graham performing at a high level as well, the Hornets have become one of the NBA's most exciting teams.

They are also one of the league's most pleasant surprises, as they are tied for sixth place in the Eastern Conference with a 12-14 record.

The Hornets have not reached the playoffs since the 2015-16 season, but with Ball running the show and getting the most out of players like Bridges, that drought may soon come to an end.

Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell was the latest NBA player to be awed by what LaMelo Ball is doing in his rookie season.

"I'm not going to lie, I'm very impressed," Mitchell told reporters of the Charlotte Hornets point guard after Utah's 138-121 win Friday. "Not just his playmaking ability and his competitiveness but his joy. I don't think I have ever not seen him smile throughout the game."

Ball scored a career-high 34 points on 14-of-27 shooting. It marked the most by a Hornets rookie since Alonzo Mourning in 1993.

Despite some growing pains, Ball has been everything the Hornets hoped for when they selected him third in the 2020 draft. The 19-year-old is averaging 13.6 points, 6.0 assists and 5.8 rebounds in 23 games.

Since moving into the starting lineup Monday, Ball is scoring 23.3 points and shooting 47.4 percent from three-point range. It's only a sample of three games, but it is certainly a positive indicator after questions about his shooting ability.

The Hornets are just 10-13, but the Southeast Division is such a mess that they trail the Atlanta Hawks for first place by only one game in the loss column.

Charlotte Hornets guard Devonte' Graham was ruled out for the second half of Friday night's game against the Utah Jazz with a left groin strain, the team announced. 

The third-year player is averaging 14.5 points and 6.1 assists a game for a Hornets squad looking to turn things around after four straight losing seasons.

Graham is coming off an incredible breakout campaign in 2019-20, averaging 18.2 points, 7.5 assists and 1.0 steals per game. Including dead caps, the 25-year-old ranked 12th on the Hornets in salary for 2019-20 but ended up leading the team in scoring.

It came after a quiet rookie year while averaging 4.7 points in 46 games as a second-round draft pick.

He finished fifth in voting for the league's Most Improved Player award in 2019-20 behind four players who were selected to the All-Star game.

Things haven't been quite as smooth in 2020-21 and now the former All-American at Kansas will have to overcome the latest injury to remain a top contributor in the NBA. Charlotte fortunately has other quality options in the backcourt between Terry Rozier and rookie LaMelo Ball.

Charlotte Hornets rookie guard LaMelo Ball is lending a helping hand to those in need in the Charlotte area.

According to TMZ Sports, the Charlotte Salvation Army said Ball donated 500 blankets to the homeless during what has been a bitterly cold winter.

A Salvation Army spokesperson said: "There's a lot of need out there, so we're thankful when people like LaMelo step up to provide something like this."

Per TMZ Sports, the homeless population in Charlotte has risen 25 percent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and temperatures in the area are expected to be in the low 20s in the coming weeks, creating a significant need for the blankets Ball provided.

The 19-year-old Ball was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, and his young career is off to a strong start.

In 22 games this season, including two starts, Ball is averaging 12.7 points, 6.0 assists, 5.9 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. He is also shooting 42.8 percent from the field and 32.0 percent from beyond the arc.

LaMelo's all-around play is a big reason why the Hornets are somewhat surprisingly in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race.

At 10-12, the Hornets are tied for seventh in the conference with the Cleveland Cavaliers, meaning they would be in the playoffs if they started today.

The Hornets haven't reached the playoffs since 2015-16, but they finally seem to have a strong core led by Ball, Gordon Hayward, Terry Rozier, P.J. Washington and Devonte' Graham.

Ball's on-court play has been solid and has him among the top NBA Rookie of the Year contenders, but his off-court generosity is perhaps even more impressive.  

Charlotte Hornets point guard LaMelo Ball donated 500 blankets to the Salvation Army, per Ashley Stroehlein of NBC Charlotte:

Ball's charitable effort isn't the only one he's made during his time as a professional. When he played for the Hawks of the National Basketball League, Ball donated a month's salary to Australia's bushfire victims, per Allen Kim of CNN.com.

Ball has excelled on the court during his rookie season with the Hornets. He entered Wednesday averaging 12.2 points, 6.1 assists, 5.9 rebounds and 1.4 steals in only 25.3 minutes per game.

The Hornets have notably improved this season with Ball in the rotation, going 10-11 thus far after a 23-42 mark last year.