LaMelo Ball Undergoes Wrist Surgery

After fracturing his right wrist on Saturday, Hornets guard LaMelo Ball underwent surgery this morning in New York to repair the injury, per Ashley Stroehlein of NBC Charlotte (Twitter link).

Ball will require about four weeks to recover from the surgery, then will begin rehabbing his wrist, says Stroehlein. Shams Charania of The Athletic, who tweets that Ball will be reevaluated at the four-week mark, notes that the team still hasn’t closed the door entirely on the possibility of the star rookie returning this season.

At 21-21, the Hornets currently hold the No. 6 seed in the East, putting them right in the thick of the playoff race. Getting Ball back down the stretch, perhaps for a play-in tournament or a first-round postseason series, would be a huge boost, but it seems like a long shot at this point.

Reports at the time of Ball’s injury indicated it was expected to be a season-ender, and the Hornets certainly won’t want to risk rushing back their franchise player, who is still just 19 years old.

In 41 games (28.6 MPG) this season, Ball averaged 15.9 PPG, 6.1 APG, 5.9 RPG, and 1.6 SPG on .451/.375/.789 shooting.

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