When he entered the league in 2020 as the third overall pick by the Charlotte Hornets, many were questioning if LaMelo Ball had what it took to lead a franchise and be a primary scoring option offensively given that he was not known to be an electric shooter. Well, LaMelo killed these discussions when he won the 2020-21 NBA Rookie of the Year award and through his first three seasons in the league, he's been nothing short of an all-around star.

Ball is the face of the Hornets franchise right now, a team that has had their fair share of struggles through the years. They have not been to the playoffs since 2016 and have not won a playoff series since 2002 when they were the Charlotte Bobcats, but Michael Jordan is selling his majority ownership stake in the team and Charlotte seems to be trending in the right direction momentarily with their young star at the point guard position.

This is why they decided to give Ball a new extension this offseason, a contract that could make him one of the highest paid players in NBA history. The Hornets and LaMelo agreed to a five-year, $205.9 million max rookie extension that could increase to a total of $260 million over the course of those five years.

Set to begin in the 2024-25 season, Ball is scheduled to make around $35.5 million, which will rank him inside the Top-30 of salaries across the league.

Contract extensions for players coming off of rookie deals can be pretty confusing, as the numbers that are reported such as the $260 million over the course of five years is not actually true. The base number for Ball's new contract is $205.9 million, as that is what he is guaranteed through the 2028-29 season. This new deal as a whole is worth up to $260 million, as earning All-NBA honors or winning one of the league's awards such as Most Valuable Player would trigger an increase in salary per terms of the contract.

We have seen various rookie max contract extensions like this one signed through the years and a great example is Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks. Originally agreeing to five-year, $207 million supermax contract extension with the Mavs in 2021, Doncic is set to make about $178 million through the 2026-27 season on top of the near $37 million he made in the first year of this extension during the 2022-23 season. In total, that's about $215 million in salary over five years because he made the All-NBA First Team each of the last four seasons, an increase of about $8 million from the base salary for hitting an incentive mark.

Should Ball be named one of the Top-15 players in the league via the All-NBA list, he will see his contract jump, earning him more guaranteed salary than the $205.9 million base suggests.

Overall, the underlying definition of this contract agreement between Ball and the Hornets is that he is their guy for the foreseeable future. The Hornets are going to be building around their 21-year-old guard for many years to come and he has already proven to be a special talent in this league.

With another star by his side and a proven supporting cast, Ball could take Charlotte to places they have never been in the postseason. Time will tell if the Hornets made a good investment or not in their future with LaMelo Ball.