The last time the Charlotte Hornets even played a first-round playoff series, Kobe Bryant was an active NBA player. The Hornets’ eight-season playoff drought — which is all but mathematically doomed to extend to nine this season — is the longest in the NBA and the fourth-longest in professional sports.
Basically the only positive product of the extended rebuild has been point guard LaMelo Ball, who might not even be durable enough to be considered a success. Ball has been solid when he’s taken the court this season — averaging 26.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 7.0 assists per game on mediocre efficiency — but the problem is that he’s appeared in only 38 of Charlotte’s 60 games. The Hornets are just 1-21 in the games that he has missed.
Thankfully for Charlotte, Ball is expected to suit up tonight when the Hornets host the Minnesota Timberwolves for a 7 p.m. clash.
On DraftKings Sportsbook, Charlotte is an eight-point underdog and the total is set for 226. Below, I’ve highlighted my prop bets centered around Ball.
Best LaMelo Ball Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
LaMelo Ball 6+ Rebounds (+120)
At six-foot-seven, Ball is the tallest starting point guard in the NBA and ranks 19th among all guards in rebounds per game this season. While he’s perhaps best known for his audacious passes and even more audacious threes, he’s actually a pretty well-rounded player, being one of just three players — along with Luka Dončić and Nikola Jokić — to average at least 20 points, five rebounds, five assists, and one steal per game in each of the past four seasons. In six games since the All-Star break, he’s averaging 6.2 rebounds per game and has snagged at least six boards in each of his past three games.
Unsurprisingly, Minnesota has struggled mightily on the boards since losing center Rudy Gobert — whose 21.3% career rebounding percentage is the sixth-highest in league history — to a back injury that will keep him out through at least tonight’s game, although he’s been ramping towards a return. The return of Julius Randle, who has appeared in each of the past two games and averaged 7.0 rebounds per game across that span, might help a little bit, but fundamentally, the Timberwolves’ interior presence relies on Gobert. Since his injury, Minnesota has conceded 49.0 boards per game, the fourth-most in basketball.
LaMelo Ball U6.5 Assists (-110)
The season-ending wrist injury that his co-star, Brandon Miller, suffered on January 15 hurt Ball’s playmaking somewhat. Up to that point, Ball had averaged 7.5 assists per game across his 26 games (20 alongside Miller), but since his injury, his average has dropped to just 6.4 per game. His most reliable second option at this point is Miles Bridges, unless you’re counting Mark Williams’ pair of 20-point performances late last week as a sign that the Lakers missed out on a true star by failing him on his physical. The tanking Hornets are throwing out somewhat inconsistent lineups, so it’s hard to glean too much from Ball’s recent production, but he’s recorded six or fewer assists in three of his five games since the All-Star break.
Furthermore, while Gobert’s injury severely hinders his teammates defensively, it hasn’t had too much of an impact on their ability to stop opposing playmakers. The current Timberwolves starting lineup of Donte DiVincenzo, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Randle, and Naz Reid is more switchable than the iteration containing the mostly paint-bound Gobert. Minnesota has allowed nearly as few assists per game (25.5) since Gobert’s injury than it had prior to it (24.4). Ball is averaging just 11.3 potential assists per game since Miller’s injury and, given that Timberwolves opponents have shot only 46.9% from the field in the last eight games, he won’t have enough weapons around him to reach his assists total.
