Hornets’ LaMelo Ball joins historic Luka Doncic club amid Mavericks game

The old adage in league circles states that teams take after the identity of their best player. While it’s arguable as to who the Charlotte Hornets’ best player is at present, there is no doubting the influence LaMelo Ball holds over the rest of the roster. Ball plays with so much joy and he’s almost so carefree that he comes off as unserious to some, but when he’s making shots and when he’s not dealing with ankle problems, the Hornets can thrive.

On Thursday night, the Hornets outlasted a slugfest against the Cooper Flagg-led Dallas Mavericks, taking a 123-121 win in the end thanks to some late-game heroics from Kon Knueppel. Ball did his part in setting the table for his team, recording nine dimes, and in so doing, he crossed the 2,000 assists threshold for his career — booking his inclusion in an exclusive stat-sheet stuffing club.

As pointed out by the official Hornets account on X (formerly Twitter), Ball became just the fifth player in NBA history to tally 5,000 points, 1,500 rebounds, and 2,000 assists within their first 300 career games, joining the likes of Luka Doncic, Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson, and Walt Frazier as the only players to do so.

Hornets keep on buzzing

The Hornets have won their past five games, and this time, they managed to do so despite it being a close game. They’ve made it a habit to win games by huge margins, but Flagg’s 49-point night meant that the Mavericks were not going to go away at any point in the ballgame.

All five Hornets starters scored in double figures led by Knueppel, who tallied a career-high of his own with 34 points. Ball had 22 points to go with his nine assists, and Brandon Miller added 23 of his own, including a late triple that gave the Hornets a three-point lead.

Miles Bridges and Moussa Diabate, for good measure, added 17 and 10 points, respectively, to fuel the charge for the buzzing Hornets.

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