The Charlotte Hornets received great news before their matchup with the Detroit Pistons with LaMelo Ball being cleared to return to action from his ankle injury. Ball came to play after missing the last 11 games, finishing with a double-double of 23 points and 11 assists.

Ball did not miss a beat after missing all that time with his ankle injury. In fact, he looked pretty spry and energetic for all 34 of the minutes he was out there on the floor, at least on offense.

The Pistons won in overtime unfortunately, 141-134, but the All-Star point guard gave some news that might not keep Hornets fans optimistic for too long. When asked about how his ankle felt after his return, this is how he responded: “Well, yeah, it's better. I’ll just keep doing the treatment and praying and stuff and see what happens from there.”

A follow-up question was asked about the soreness of his ankle while he was playing.

“I mean, yeah, but once you get in between the lines, you just gotta play.”

On the outside looking in, it sounds like he is just playing through the pain more than anything at the moment. Once you sprain your ankle, it is more susceptible to getting rolled again for even the slightest of tweaks. So what LaMelo Ball is doing is pretty ballsy, no pun intended of course.

It does raise some eyebrows about his availability on a nightly basis and if fans should expect to see him attempt to try to get back in the swing of things. The Hornets have now lost six straight games and are sitting at 7-21 on the season.

There is still some fight left in this team for sure, but a lot of things need to go right for the playoff or play-in aspirations they have. Ball and Gordon Hayward are going to have to be as close to 100 percent as possible, the defense has to improve, and their chemistry just has to be better overall.

According to Hornets head coach Steve Clifford, too many guys are worried about their individual stats. On the bright side, this should be rock bottom. There is nowhere to go but up from here.