By Niall Walsh

NBA rookie Lamelo Ball is already off to a fantastic start to his first season in the league which started in late December. The Charlotte Hornets point guard has shown he is a major contender for rookie of the year since the very start of the season. Ball was the number 3 pick in the NBA draft back in November. His older brother Lonzo was also a top 3 pick in the draft back in 2017 but had more of a traditional route to the league than Lamelo. Lonzo played one year for UCLA after high school before entering the draft at 19, which is the standard journey most aspiring basketball players take.

It wasn’t like this at all for Lamelo, however. He played high school basketball with Lonzo and his other brother Liangelo at Chino Hills in what became an iconic high school basketball team in America. In high school, Lamelo pulled off many historic performances, most famously his 92-point game in 2017. He was destined for the league from early on and like Lonzo and was committed to UCLA. Lamelo was pulled out of high school in 2017 and then headed to Lithuania to play professionally alongside his brother Liangelo. This made Lamelo the youngest American to play professional basketball overseas at just 16. He then played in the JBA, before going back to playing high school basketball where he started to return to the spotlight. It was then in Australia he proved that he was ready for the NBA and in November of 2020 he signed for the Charlotte Hornets after being picked 3 rd by the franchise owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan.

You could tell he was going to be good in the NBA from how he has matured as a player and improved on both ends of the court, but he has performed even greater than expected. After seeing Lonzo have a somewhat underwhelming rookie season you would think there would be a chance Lamelo could possibly follow suit, but he did the complete opposite. Instead, he has had a very exciting season so far. There is still a long way to go, but what he has done in a few games and a short number of starts is extremely impressive. He has already had multiple performances that have shown that he belongs in this league. We have seen him make many impressive passes to assist his teammates from all different angles and distances on the court as well as scoring efficiently and making it look so easy. Lame has played 27 games starting 7 and is averaging 14.6 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists per game.

He currently has a career high of 34 points in one game and it did not take long for him to achieve his first triple double, racking up 22 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists against the Atlanta Hawks, this made him the youngest player to get a triple double in a game at 19. As well as this he also scored 7 3-point shots against the Houston Rockets recently and to make it sound even more of an achievement for him, while being interviewed after the game he stated “I ain’t get no extra shots… stepped on the court no warmup, no nothing”. If there is any truth to him not getting to warm up before the game due to confusion with this COVID test, knocking down 7 3s is even more impressive for the rookie. He still has areas to improve in. Although so much height to his advantage being 6’8 which is rare to see for a point guard, he doesn’t really use it as much as he potentially could. Ball has very few dunks and doesn’t drive through the lane as much as you’d think considering his size, he tends to go for the flashy lay-up. He still gets to the basket, but you can tell he still has a lot of developing to do strength wise and if he does, we might see the spectacular dunks he used to produce at Spire academy and in the NBL. The good thing for Lamelo is he is a great 3-point shooter which is the most important asset for a point guard to have. We see players like Ben Simmons who has a poor jump shot and can’t score from distance at all, if he could he’d be a more highly regarded point guard in the league, because who wants a point guard who can’t score 3s… it’s their job. This is why Lamelo has the ability to become a legendary player with 3-point shooting, can easily get to the hoop for a lay up and make incredible passes from nothing like its light work, all of this with that extra height over most point guards like Steph Curry and Kyrie Irving while having them crucial game winning point guard attributes.

Judging his performances so far it looks like he’s going to win rookie of the year but he does have some stiff competition in the form of number one pick Anthony Edwards and number two pick James Wiseman, but his career is looking very promising purely based off the few months he has been in the league. It will be interesting to see how he does in his second season where he’s no longer a new player being compared to the other new players. He will be critiqued on his game even more and people will be seeing if he can really last in the league and be come a top player like expected. As a rookie he is already playing a big role helping the team get to the playoffs and if he keeps performing the way he is, he could play a big part in bringing the franchise to a whole new level, and he is just getting started so keep an eye on Lamelo Ball as there is so much in store for the rookie.