The Charlotte Hornets are set to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday, as the team hopes to earn its fifth win of the season. Unfortunately, it appears Charlotte will be without point guard LaMelo Ball in this matchup.
Ball, who is 24 years old, is officially ruled out due to an ankle injury, according to the NBA's official injury report. However, the good news is that the injury does not appear to be serious, as the Hornets are categorizing his absence as “Injury Management.”
Saturday's game is the second of a back-to-back for the Hornets. Friday's contest resulted in a 147-134 overtime loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. So, it's not too shocking that Charlotte plans to sit LaMelo Ball against the Thunder, as he'll be given a little break over the weekend.
Ball has played in seven of the available 11 games so far in the 2025-26 campaign. When healthy, he's proven to be one of the more reliable producers for the Hornets. This season, the former Rookie of the Year is averaging 22.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 9.9 assists per game while owning a 41.9% field goal percentage and shooting 33.3% from beyond the three-point line.
That is a ton of production that the Hornets are going to miss on Saturday. With LaMelo Ball out of the lineup, the team will likely turn to Tre Mann and Collin Sexton to run the point guard position. However, Ball's absence does create an opportunity for 2025 rookie Kon Knueppel to step up in a big way for his team early in the season.
