As his dad spouts off about how he should be starting, LaMelo Ball received a fourth-quarter benching Friday night.
The No. 3 pick in November’s NBA draft played just 1:17 in the second half of the Hornets’ 123-110 loss to the Bulls on Friday, including no minutes in the fourth quarter after committing five turnovers in 16:34.
“If you’re turning the ball over five times in 16 minutes, that ain’t gonna cut it for me,” Hornets coach James Borrego told reporters on Saturday, per the Charlotte Observer.
“If you’re doing that on the offensive end, you better be bringing something defensively.”
Ball, who said he was “rushing a lot of stuff,” admitted he hadn’t been playing up to his standards after Friday’s loss.
“Last two games, I don’t think I’ve been doing real well,” Ball told reporters. “I’m going to try to amp it up a little next game.”
The 19-year-old guard came back to record 11 points, eight assists, five rebounds and four turnovers while playing 27:43 in Sunday’s win over the Magic.
Through 16 games off the bench, Ball, who was a polarizing prospect in the draft, is averaging 11.4 points (on 40.1 percent shooting), 6.3 rebounds, six assists and 2.4 turnovers in 24.8 minutes. He dazzled with a triple-double (22 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists) against the Hawks on Jan. 9 but has endured his share of struggles as well.
And yet, perhaps not surprisingly, his outspoken father, LaVar Ball, believes he should be starting.
“My thing is he ain’t happy with that, but he ain’t gonna show that,” LaVar Ball recently told TMZ Sports. “If I train you to be the best and always been starting all your life — here is what they don’t get. My boys are not freakin’ role players! They superstars! Let them do what they do!”
“But, if your mentality ain’t like that, guess what? It’s hard to coach my boys and tap into the best because you don’t have a killer mindset.”
