LaMelo Ball injury update: Hornets star suffers fractured ankle

Hornets star LaMelo Ball suffered a fractured ankle in a non-contact fashion on Monday night. We look at the injury and the guard’s recovery time.

LaMelo Ball has endured plenty of hardships this year, particularly with injuries as he’s missed time with ankle injuries over the course of the 2022-23 NBA season, including a large part of the start of the campaign. Now he’s set to miss more time after Monday night’s game.

With the Charlotte Hornets hosting the Detroit Pistons on Monday, Ball and his cohorts looked on their way to securing a comfortable victory after going up 20 points in the first quarter and leading by 19 at halftime.

After the break, though, Ball was running the offense from the right wing when he fell to the ground after a crossover move and stayed down in pain. He left the game with an apparent ankle injury.

Soon after, Shams Charania of The Athletic, among others, reported that Ball had suffered a fractured ankle on the play.

Fractured ankle recovery time: How long will LaMelo Ball be out for Hornets?

Obviously with a relatively severe injury, Ball is going to miss some time. According to The Bone and Joint Surgery Clinic out of Raleigh, fractured ankle recovery time can vary on a case-to-case basis with the timetable ranging anywhere from 4-8 weeks.

With only 19 games left in the regular season for the Hornets and the club still sitting at just 20-43 even after the eventual win over Detroit on Monday, it’s hard to see Ball returning this season. It would not be worth Charlotte potentially jeopardizing the future of their 21-year-old star, especially when he’s dealt with ankle issues all year, in order to rush him back when the Hornets are so far outside of the playoff race.

Though there has not been an official timetable released yet, this might as well put a nail in Charlotte’s season. With that said, Dennis Smith Jr. is expected to see more time with Ball out. At the end of the day, though, this is a sad exclamation point on a forgettable season in Buzz City.