Charlotte Hornets’ LaMelo Ball suffers fracture in proper ankle

Charlotte Hornets star LaMelo Ball suffered a fracture in his proper ankle throughout Monday evening’s win over the Detroit Pistons, the workforce introduced after the sport.

Ball appeared to show the ankle early within the third quarter whereas dribbling the ball behind his again. He instantly went down in ache and was subbed out of the sport, ending with 18 factors on 6 3-pointers to associate with six rebounds and 5 assists in 21 minutes.

Gordon Hayward mentioned Charlotte’s gamers did not discover out concerning the severity of Ball’s damage till after the sport, with most of them figuring the purpose guard had simply tweaked one thing.

“It’s certainly disappointing because he’s a major part of our team and we felt like we were rounding the corner,” Hayward mentioned.

Ball’s different ankle has troubled him a number of occasions this season — he is sprained his left ankle thrice, limiting him to only 36 video games.

Hornets coach Steve Clifford did not say how lengthy Ball can be out. Charlotte has 19 video games left and is not in playoff competition, so it will be laborious to think about the workforce speeding him again.

“It’s just a basketball ankle and there is nothing that you can do about that,” Clifford mentioned.

Ball, 21, is averaging 23.4 factors and eight.5 assists this season, after making the All-Star Game final 12 months.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.