Charlotte Hornets’ star LaMelo Ball has been on fire to start the 2024-25 NBA season. The only problem is the Hornets haven’t had a good start to the year at 6-12. Now it appears that the Hornets have to navigate an injury to Ball who has been healthy this year. But in any case, LaMelo Ball is rapidly approaching Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson status in terms of field goal attempts, as per Ballislife.
Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson were known for taking a lot of shots, and LaMelo Ball’s 2024-25 season is slowly creeping up on par with some of their top shot-taking seasons.
This year, Ball is taking 24.9 shot attempts per game. Since 2000, Iverson holds the mark for most shot attempts in a single season at 278 which he accomplished during the 2001-02 season. Bryant holds the second-most shot attempts in that period at 27.2 during the 2005-06 season.
Iverson then holds the mark for the next two most shot attempt seasons at 25.5 (2000-01) and 25.3 (2005-06), respectively.
During those respective seasons, both Iverson and Bryant were the main source of offense for their teams where it justified them taking a lot of shots. The same could be said for Ball this season with the Hornets.
LaMelo Ball’s 2024-25 season with Hornets
This year, Ball has been setting records while playing at an All-Star caliber level. His play is on par with his numbers during the 2021-22 season when he was named to the All-Star team.
He had suited up in 18 games so far at a little over 34 minutes per game. He had been averaging 31.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 6.9 assists and 1.1 steals with splits of 43 percent shooting from the field, 35.6 percent shooting from the three-point line and 84.8 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
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Ball suffered a calf injury late during the Hornets’ loss to the Miami Heat on Wednesday. There isn’t any concrete update as to his prognosis aside from the fact that he won’t play against the New York Knicks on Friday.
The No. 3 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, Ball has been hampered by injuries during his young career. He was limited to only 36 games during the 2022-23 season and 22 games during the 2023-24 season. He played in only 51 games in 2020-21 when he won the Rookie of the Year Award.
Ball’s career-high for games played is 75 in 2021-22 when he was an All-Star. Hornets fans are certainly hoping that this latest issue isn’t a setback of any kind. Ball has paired with Brandon Miller, last season’s No. 2 overall pick, to make up a formidable and intriguing young duo.
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