Hornets need more than LaMelo Ball in the weight room

The NBA Playoffs began tonight with the Charlotte Hornets out of contention for a ninth straight season. For the Eastern Conferene team, postseason opportunities have been slim since 2016, when they lost to the Miami Heat 4-3 in the first round.

NBA team owners must understand the days of drafting a star that will keep the fans excited about the organization are over. Fans want to have something to cheer for while paying high ticket prices to watch a subpar team on a nightly basis. Hornets star LaMelo Ball has been the heartbeat keeping the team competitive night in and night out over the past 5 seasons. During that time, Ball and the Hornets fans have been riding out injuries that have plagued the Hornets star and kept him off the court. It has also prevented the team from making a serious push to be a true playoff contender or a play-in team.

Hornets head coach Charles Lee wants Ball to spend some time in the weight room during the off-season to get himself more conditioned and bulk up to help prevent some of the injuries he has sustained during the nightly NBA grind. Hopefully, Ball accepts the request from Lee and makes the necessary changes to his offseason condition regimen.

That’s one place to start, but the Hornets top brass should evaluate the player personnel on the team as well. Charlotte had a subpar defense last season, ranked 21st in the NBA by allowing 114.2 points and 14.9 turnovers, 18.7 fouls, and 7.4 steals per game. One of the most troubling stats is a total of 1,205 points off turnovers.  

The Hornets positionless play of basketball is not beneficial to the current structure of the team. Charlotte doesn’t have one player ranked in the top half in any defensive statistical category, showing the glaring reason why they will remain a play-in team at best. For the Hornets to find to be a contender, their forwards and centers need to work on offensive rebounds and keep the opposing team players from getting second and third opportunities to score baskets. If the Hornets are looking something to defensive build off of is small forward Miles Bridges was ranked 25th in rebounds this past season. 

Charlotte didn’t have any players ranked in the top 25 during the 2024-2025 NBA season, while other teams had multiple players giving a valiant effort to make sure their team was in position to win games. Ball needing to spend more time in the weight room is an excuse to keep fans from getting upset about their team’s inability to be a playoff team. It’s time for the front office to accept some responsibility and draft and trade for players that can help them win.

The days of NBA organizations believing they can get one star to build a team to win playoff games or even a championship are truly over. Give Hornets fans a contender, and not a team they pay good money to watch as a form of entertainment, only to see themselves being unentertained when they are not playing in the playoffs.