Charlotte Hornets head coach Charles Lee wants LaMelo Ball to work on something this offseason.
LaMelo Ball had a great 2025-26 season for the Charlotte Hornets. He played in 72 games and led the Hornets to a play-in game win against the Miami Heat.
Charlotte missed the playoffs this year after getting blown out by the Orlando Magic. At his end-of-the-season press conference with reporters, Hornets head coach Charles Lee revealed what Ball's "next step" must be.
“I think that the next step for [LaMelo] is again, being able to handle physicality,” Lee said. “I think that’s a global thing for our team. I have to figure out how to help them in that regard and we also have to figure out how do we have the physical toughness, which is a lot of weight room. Then, some of it is the mental execution of how to best combat it – what plays do we need to run, how fast do we need to play, what are some of the basketball situations? A lot of that will fall on Melo because he’s one of our primary ball-handlers.”
Ball played in 72 games for the Hornets this season. He averaged 20.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 7.1 assists per game while shooting 40.7% from the field, 36.8% from beyond the arc and 89.9% from the free-throw line.
A one-time All-Star, Ball has two years remaining on his contract and is eligible to extend for three years, $119.9 million after the NBA Finals, per Bobby Marks of ESPN. The Hornets signed Ball to a five-year, $203 million extension in 2023. Ball will make $40,770,520 next season, $43,582,280 in 2027-28 and $46,394,040 in 2028-29.
Ball finished the 2025-26 season seventh in the NBA in total assists and ninth in assists per game. Former NBA executive and current analyst for The Athletic, John Hollinger, believes Ball should be considered "a candidate for Third-Team All-NBA."
Ball led the NBA in offensive rating since the All-Star break.
"I haven’t heard him get a lot of shine for end-of-season honors, but Ball has played enough games to be eligible (!) and should be a candidate for Third-Team All-NBA," Hollinger wrote.
Ball has career averages of 20.8 points, 5.7 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game with the Hornets. Those are great numbers, but the guard has yet to make the playoffs.
“He’s got to do it again this offseason and elevate everything he did,” said Lee. “What he did was great. He helped us in a lot of different ways.”
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