At 19 years and 171 days, LaMelo Ball tied a rookie franchise record with seven 3-pointers in the Charlotte Hornets’ 119-94 rout of the Houston Rockets, on Monday. Ball tied the team record set by DJ Augustin in 2008 and matched by P.J. Washington last season. He joined the elite club with LeBron James, Luka Doncic and Coby White who are the only others who have matched the feat as teenagers.
He ended the night with 24 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds in 32 minutes against the Rockets. According to Elias Sports, the 19-year-old became merely the third player of his age or younger to record multiple games of 20 points, 10 assists and five rebounds.
Since Stephen Curry in 2010 against the LA Clippers, Ball also became the first rookie to post a stat line in a single game of at least 24 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and seven 3-pointers. The only other rookie to reach those numbers was Jason Kidd in 1995.
Since LaMelo Ball entered the starting lineup, the budding star is averaging 22.6 points, 6.6 assists, six rebounds and one steal in five games on 51.4% shooting from the 3-point arc. Charlotte put Ball into the starting lineup on February 1 in a win against Miami. The Hornets now own a record of 3-2 with Ball in the starting lineup, and they are averaging 120.8 points over their last six games after averaging 107.7 points in the first 19. The 25-point victory versus Houston marked back-to-back 20-point wins for the Hornets, a feat they hadn’t accomplished since 2017.
“[LaMelo] oozes confidence,” said James Borrego, head coach of the Charlotte Hornets. “He believes it’s going in. That’s at least half the battle in this thing. He’s going to continue that. He’s fearless. He’s going to continue to shoot it. He’s got great confidence in [his shot] and he’s going to keep getting reps and better shots as he goes. It’s a great weapon to have and it sets up a lot of his game with the way he can get to the rim.”
Through 25 games, Ball is leading all the rookies in most of the major stat categories with averages of 14.2 points (1st), 6.2 assists (1st), 5.9 rebounds (2nd), and 1.4 steals (1st).
