For the first time since his rookie season, Charlotte Hornets star point guard LaMelo Ball will be coming off the bench in Thursday night's matchup against the Indiana Pacers at Spectrum Center in Charlotte.
Replacing Ball in the starting lineup is veteran point guard Collin Sexton.
Collin Sexton will start at point guard tonight for the Hornets-Pacers game, replacing LaMelo Ball.
Charlotte is on the second night of a back-to-back and the team is trying to maximize Ball's availability, per @rodboone.
LaMelo will come off the bench for the first time since… pic.twitter.com/D54P5Y6r6B
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) January 9, 2026
The decision to start Sexton over Ball appears to be a tactical move the Hornets are making during the second leg of back-to-back sets, according to Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer.
“When facing back-to-backs, the team and LaMelo are trying to get creative and want to maximize his availability, league sources told @theobserver. So, LaMelo may not start in both ends of consecutive games so he can be available more in the fourth quarter, I'm told,” Boone shared via a social media post on X, formerly Twitter, before the start of Thursday's contest.
Injuries have greatly limited Ball's availability in games since he entered the NBA in 2020. It is the same story for him in the 2025-26 campaign, as he has only appeared in 27 of Charlotte's first 37 games.
Ball is a fantastic player with amazing talents, but the Hornets have not maximized the great things he can do on the court because of his struggles to stay healthy and avoid injuries.
With this move, it seems Charlotte, which lost to the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday at home, is willing to adjust and take an intriguing step to capitalize on Ball's abilities.
The 27-year-old native of Anaheim, California, enters the Pacers game with season averages of 19.5 points, 7.9 assists and 5.1 rebounds per outing.
