Charlotte Hornets

Even though the Charlotte Hornets are off to a strong start this season, LaVar Ball thinks they are missing a golden opportunity to be better by playing his sons LaMelo and LiAngelo together.

Speaking to TMZ Sports, Ball said the Hornets "don't understand what they got" in LiAngelo and need to "let him play with [LaMelo]."

"They need to let my boy go ahead and play," he added. "I dropped them a superstar in the G League and they don't know what to do with him."

The Hornets gave LiAngelo a spot on their summer-league roster after he was brought in with LaMelo for a workout. The 23-year-old averaged 9.6 points per game and shot 34.5 percent from three-point range in five appearances. 

Charlotte signed LiAngelo to a nonguaranteed deal Oct. 19 but released him later that day. ESPN's Tim Bontemps noted the move was expected to pave the way for him to join the Greensboro Swarm, the Hornets' G League affiliate.

The Swarm selected him with the No. 14 overall pick in the 2021 G League draft. LiAngelo ranks seventh on the team in scoring with 9.2 points per game and is shooting 57.7 percent in four appearances. 

The Hornets have yet to bring him up to the NBA roster, and their performance gives no indication that they are in trouble without him. Their 12-8 record ranks fifth in the Eastern Conference.

Charlotte's offense ranks fourth in points per game (111.8) and 11th in offensive rating (109.5), per Basketball Reference. 

LaMelo is playing just fine without his brother in tow. The reigning NBA Rookie of the Year is averaging 19.9 points, 7.5 assists and 7.8 rebounds per game in 20 starts.

LaMelo Ball beat out Anthony Edwards for the Rookie of the Year award last season, but Edwards has his sights set on bigger honors.

"I'm trying to be MVP," Edwards told Mark Medina of NBA.com. "I'm not really worried about Rookie of the Year."

The 2020 No. 1 overall pick had a solid argument for Rookie of the Year, averaging 19.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.1 steals on 41.7 percent shooting (32.9 percent from three) while appearing in all 72 games for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Ball was limited to just 51 appearances while averaging 15.7 points per game for the Charlotte Hornets, though he filled up the stat sheet with 5.9 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game on 43.6 percent shooting (35.2 percent from three).

Ball earned 84 first-place votes for Rookie of the Year compared to just 15 for Edwards.

"I don't care about that," Edwards said. "I'm happy 'Melo got it. They were saying our draft class wasn't going to be good anyway. So, it didn't bother me that I didn't get it."

So far this season, Edwards is averaging 24.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game on 42.6 percent shooting (33.6 percent from three). He leads the Timberwolves in scoring ahead of former All-Stars Karl-Anthony Towns and D'Angelo Russell.

This trajectory could make Edwards an All-Star himself and a potential MVP candidate down the line, although he will need to find a lot more team success to reach that level. Minnesota entered Sunday with a 4-8 record, creating an uphill battle for a squad looking for its first playoff appearance since 2018.

The team still has to love the 20-year-old's confidence as he continues to improve early in his NBA career.   

Less than 60 games into his NBA career, LaMelo Ball looks every bit like the generational star the Charlotte Hornets can build around.

His teammates have noticed. 

"He really is a basketball savant," Hornets guard Ish Smith told Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN. "You watch him make these calculated-risk passes, and I'm like, 'How did he even think about throwing it like that?'"

Smith certainly has the experience to offer such a high compliment. The veteran guard has played for 12 NBA teams across as many seasons, bouncing around the league with a laundry list of high-profile teammates.

Ball is averaging 20.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 6.1 assists through the first eight games of the 2021-22 season, solid numbers that undersell the spectacular nature of his game. The second-year point guard is a nightly highlight reel of long-distance shots and Maravichian passes, fitting the ball into windows no one would even think to attempt.

The Hornets are off to a promising 5-3 start as a result, with Ball and Miles Bridges looking like two young stars worth building around for the foreseeable future. 

Charlotte Hornets star point guard LaMelo Ball said a viral video of him with Jay-Z—in which the famous rapper and entrepreneur appeared to be telling him he should play in New York in the future—was misinterpreted. 

"I was just saying, 'We have a game after this and we're going home,'" Ball told ESPN's Malika Andrews on NBA Today (1:50 mark). "And he was just saying, 'Where's it at?' And it was in Charlotte. That's how it went."

Well, that's a boring explanation for the moment. Feasible, but boring. 

No matter. Even if Jay-Z wasn't brazenly recruiting Ball in that particular moment, the recruiting pitches will be coming in the future. Ball has been excellent in his young career and is averaging 19.6 points, 6.0 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game this season.

It will likely be a long time before Ball hits free agency. The Hornets will do everything in their power to keep him for his entire career. But the sirens will sing in Ball's direction. 

The Charlotte Hornets offered Miles Bridges a four-year, $60 million contract extension, ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported on his podcast The Hoop Collective (via RealGM).

"When he was in negotiations for his extensions a couple of weeks ago, I'm told the Hornets' baseline offer was four years, $60 million," Windhorst said. "Which is $15 million per year. If you look at what Mikal Bridges, which we've compared him to during his career, got ... which some people in the league feel is an overpay."

Mikal Bridges, a first-round pick in 2018 like Miles Bridges, inked a four-year, $90 million extension with the Phoenix Suns earlier this month. ESPN's Tim McMahon noted on the podcast that Miles Bridges wouldn't sign for $30 million less.

Based on how Bridges is playing for Charlotte this season, he should receive a better offer than $60 million over four years in restricted free agency. In five games, the 23-year-old is averaging 26.2 points, which leads the Hornets, 8.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game while shooting 52.7 percent from the field and 39.5 percent on three-pointers.

If Bridges receives a better offer from another team, the Hornets can match.

The Michigan State product earned the Eastern Conference Player of the Week award Monday. Hornets head coach James Borrego lauded him for his hard work.

"It validates his work—where his career's at, how hard he's worked to get to this point," Borrego said of Bridges winning the award, per the North State Journal. "I know the award is probably recognized for the offense, but he's doing as much defensively for us as the offense. So he deserves a ton of credit and I'm very proud of him."

In 66 games last season, Bridges averaged 12.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game while shooting 50.3 percent from the field and 40.0 percent from deep. He played 29.3 minutes per game but has bumped that up to 35.2 minutes this season. 

Bridges has seen more playing time and more responsibility as Terry Rozier deals with an ankle injury. However, that shouldn't change when Rozier returns. 

The Hornets enter Friday's game against the Miami Heat with a 4-1 record, tied for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Bridges has been a big part of the winning formula and should continue to be.  

The Charlotte Hornets have exercised LaMelo Ball's third-year rookie contract option, the team announced Friday. 

The move doesn't come as a surprise, given the 20-year-old's performance thus far. He won the Rookie of the Year award last season and is on pace to surpass his 2020-21 numbers this season.

Ball has emerged as one of the best young players in the NBA. Through five games this season, he's averaging 19.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game while shooting 43.0 percent from the field and 45.9 percent from deep.

When the Hornets selected Ball third overall in the 2020 draft, there were questions about his three-point shooting and defensive ability. He has proved his doubters wrong thus far, as he's shooting 36.6 percent from deep and averaging 1.6 steals in 56 career games.

Ball is starting to receive much more attention than he already had, and ESPN's Jay Williams recently even went as far as to say he could end up becoming the face of the league.

In addition to Ball, the Hornets also exercised P.J. Washington's fourth-year option.

Washington, 23, was drafted by the Hornets 12th overall in 2019. In three games this season, he's averaging 6.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists.

The Hornets enter Friday's game against the Miami Heat tied for the best record in the Eastern Conference at 4-1. While much of the team's success can be attributed to Ball, several other players have been key contributors for Charlotte this season, including Miles Bridges, Gordon Hayward and Mason Plumlee. 

A pair of Michael Jordan shoes worn during the superstar's rookie season sold for $1.47 million at auction Sunday, per Dan Hajducky of ESPN.

The purchase by card collector Nick Fiorella more than doubled the previous record for the most expensive game-worn shoes initially set in 2020. Another Jordan-worn pair sold for $615,000 with a piece of glass still in the shoe after the Hall of Famer shattered a backboard in 1985.

The latest footwear was worn by Jordan in his fifth career NBA game against the Denver Nuggets—and potentially even earlier. 

The Nike Air Ships were also signed by Jordan before being gifted to former Nuggets ball boy TJ Lewis, who maintained the shoes before selling them this week.

It continues a trend of high demand for Jordan-related memorabilia. 

A Upper Deck Game Jersey game-worn patch card sold for $2.7 million earlier this month, while one fan even bought a pair of used underwear worn by Jordan.

The recently sold shoes still only rank second on the all-time list for most expensive footwear. That honor goes to the Yeezy 1 prototypes that Kanye West wore at the 2008 Grammys, which sold for $1.8 million.  

After some unusual roster maneuvering that didn't pan out, LiAngelo Ball is officially a member of the Charlotte Hornets' G League affiliate. 

The Greensboro Swarm selected Ball with the No. 14 pick in the 2021 G League draft on Saturday. 

It wasn't initially clear that Ball would even be part of the draft. He signed a nonguaranteed contract with the Hornets and was waived last week, but the intention was to have him play for their G League affiliate.

On Friday, though, ESPN's Jonathan Givony reported that Ball was draft-eligible after "procedural issues" prevented him from joining the Greensboro Swarm. 

Ball did appear in five games for the Hornets during summer league. He averaged 9.6 points on 37.5 percent shooting. 

This marks the second G League draft of the year. The first one took place in January after being delayed two months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That draft set up the 2021 season that ran from February 9 to March 11 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Florida. 

Saturday's draft set the stage for the 2021-22 season, which will return to a traditional format. The regular season will run from Nov. 5 to April 2, followed by the postseason. 

Ball will get his first significant NBA exposure on a G League roster. The 22-year-old does have professional experience from his time with Prienai in the Lithuanian Basketball League in 2018. He averaged 12.6 points and 2.9 rebounds in 14 games with the club. 

The Oklahoma City Blue, G League affiliate of the Oklahoma City Thunder, signed Ball in March 2020. He didn't appear in a game with the team before the season was shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Ball did sign with the Detroit Pistons during training camp prior to the start of the 2020-21 season, but he was released before playing in a game. 

Now that he is a member of the Swarm, Ball will get his first real opportunity to showcase his skills over the course of an entire season. He will attempt to parlay that into a chance to play in the NBA. 

LiAngelo Ball has been entered into the G League draft after originally planning to play for the Charlotte Hornets' affiliate. 

Per ESPN's Jonathan Givony, procedural issues will prevent Ball from being assigned to the Hornets' G League team. 

On Oct. 14, ESPN's Tim Bontemps reported the Hornets signed Ball to a nonguaranteed deal and released him in order to "eventually sign with their G League team."

The move came ahead of the NBA's deadline to set their 15-man roster for the regular season, as well as finalize two-way deals and G League teams, on Oct. 18 at 8:30 a.m. ET. 

Luke Adams of HoopsHype noted most player releases would likely happen by Oct. 16 to allow them to clear waivers in time for the start of the regular season. 

Ball was invited to participate in Hornets training camp by his brother, LaMelo. The front office signed LiAngelo to their roster for summer league. He averaged 9.6 points and 2.0 rebounds per game in five appearances. 

Summer league marked Ball's first game action with an NBA team in his professional career. The 22-year-old previously had stints with the Oklahoma City Blue in the G League during the 2020 season and Detroit Pistons during training camp last year, but he never appeared in a game for either team. 

The 2021 G League draft will take place on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET. The Delaware Blue Coats (affiliate of the Philadelphia 76ers) own the No. 1 overall pick.    

Charlotte Hornets point guard LaMelo Ball put on a show in Wednesday's season-opening win over the Indiana Pacers.

The reigning NBA Rookie of the Year poured in 31 points, drilled seven three-pointers and added nine rebounds and seven assists in the 123-122 victory. It was a historic performance for Ball.

The Hornets escaped with the win thanks to game-winning free throws by P.J. Washington with 4.6 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

But the star of the game was Ball, who recorded his third-career 30-point game. He got off to a fast start with 16 points in the first half.

Ball even received "MVP!" chants from the home crowd in Charlotte.

Ball might have been playing with a little extra motivation Wednesday, as his father LaVar Ball was watching him in person for the first time. Ball's mother Tina was also in attendance.

Ball was limited to 51 games in his rookie season after suffering a fractured bone in his right wrist. If he can remain healthy, he will give Charlotte a good chance to make its first postseason appearance since 2016.

The Hornets will be back in action Friday in a road matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers.