Jan 15, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball (1) dribbles against the Utah Jazz during the first quarter at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-Imagn Images Chris Nicoll-Imagn Images

LaMelo Ball rises into The Ringer's top 25 player rankings

Originally posted on Charlotte Hornets on SI
By Zach Roberts | Last updated Jan 16, 2025 4:24 PM ET

LaMelo Ball has been playing good basketball this year. It hasn't helped the Charlotte Hornets, who've been until recently dealing with a laundry list of injuries, get a lot of wins, but Ball is averaging over 29 points, seven assists, and five rebounds. His play forced The Ringer to move him up in their top 100 ranking.

LaMelo Ball jumps again in The Ringer ranking

At the end of last year, which was a mostly injured season for LaMelo Ball, the Hornets guard was ranked 59th by The Ringer out of all NBA players. Just before the 2024-25 season began, he moved to 53. In a little over a month, he jumped all the way to 27. He stayed there until today when he finally cracked the top 25.

Danny Chau wrote for Ball's entry, "LaMelo has been one of the most compelling modern portraits of NBA stardom we’ve seen in a while, in ways good and bad, but certainly chaotic. He is the hop-skipping embodiment of ignorance is bliss: Players aren’t supposed to be able to carry such heavy usage so lightly. Players aren’t supposed to be able to shoot 3s at the volume he does with impunity. To put his absurd shot diet into perspective: Ball is attempting more 3s per game than players like Evan Mobley, Jimmy Butler, and Derrick White are attempting overall field goals per game. The Hornets remain an absolute mess, but there’s something mesmerizing about watching the team frame Ball’s nightly Jackson Pollocks."

Ball continues to showcase why he's one of one in the NBA, and the overall NBA world is taking notice. No one does what he does, for better or worse, and that makes a nine-win team much more watchable than they'd otherwise be. The Ringer also called him one of the most "wildly imaginative" guards in the history of the sport.

At 23, Ball is one of six players his age or younger ranked in the top 25. He's still fairly young despite having four years under his belt, and he could continue to rise even further in the semi-often-updated rankings from the media company.