Dec 22, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Charlotte Hornets guard Lamelo Ball (1) dribbles beside Cleveland Cavaliers guard Jaylon Tyson (20) in the third quarter at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images David Richard-Imagn Images

All-Star voting shows a troubling reality for LaMelo Ball this season

Originally posted on Charlotte Hornets on SI
By Zach Roberts | Last updated Dec 30, 2025 9:39 AM ET

Last year, Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball was a huge snub from the NBA All-Star Game. He was averaging around 30 points per game, led the East in fan voting, and was having a pretty strong all-around year.

His efficiency and the Hornets' terrible record were likely the culprit for his snub. While that's pretty unfair, at least the team record part, it is almost assuredly why the top vote-getter didn't make it in.

But this year, with better talent around Ball, the hope was that the Hornets would be better and that Ball would have better numbers. Maybe the scoring would go down, but the shooting percentages would rise, and so would the assist numbers.

But as early numbers come in from NBA fan voting, it's clear that things have not gone to plan.

LaMelo Ball is not close to being an All-Star

The fan vote is only a portion of the process of getting into the All-Star Game, so it does matter. Obviously, it's not the direct path in it used to be, but it does matter. LaMelo Ball isn't doing as well in it this time.

LaMelo Ball is 11th in the Eastern Conference in the first fan vote returns for the 2026 NBA All-Star Game. pic.twitter.com/zXhYWvGBwk
— r/CharlotteHornets (@HornetsReddit) December 29, 2025

He's 11th in overall voting in the East, behind:

Giannis Antetokounmpo
Tyrese Maxey
Jalen Brunson
Cade Cunningham
Donovan Mitchell
Jaylen Brown
Karl-Anthony Towns
Jalen Johnson
Pascal Siakam
Michael Porter Jr.

It's kind of hard to argue against most of these. It's even harder to argue that Ball deserves a spot on the All-Star team.

He's somehow been worse this year, except in assists. His assist numbers are pretty good, but his scoring is down, and his shooting efficiency is way down. That was a problem last year, so being even worse in that regard is not going to cut it.

The Hornets are slightly better, but they're not good enough to warrant an All-Star at this stage, even if team success is a foolish metric to judge individual players by.

Ball has also been injured, which doesn't help his case. Fans still love him, but clearly not to the same degree as last year. With injuries, shooting woes, and still a bad team, Ball is probably not making it this year.

This article first appeared on Charlotte Hornets on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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