Ahead of their duel with the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday, Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel had some words of praise for rookie standout LaMelo Ball.

Per Ryan Ward of Lakers Nation, Vogel is in awe of Ball's supreme passing abilities. Vogel also believes that Ball has been instrumental to the Hornets' relatively stellar season.

As of this writing, the Hornets sport a 20-19 win-loss record for fifth in the Eastern Conference. They're on the verge of surpassing their 23-win tally last season. That's mighty impressive considering there's a ton of season left.

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Ball is the leading candidate to take home top rookie honors. So far, he's averaging 15.7 points, 5.9 rebounds, 6.2 assists, and 1.6 steals. Like Vogel, many have praised Ball's passing ability and superior basketball IQ which are similar traits that LeBron James has become known for.

However, Ball caught everyone off guard when he shared his thoughts on facing James for the first time in his career. Any NBA player who's going up against one of the greats would understandably be either excited or nervous as hell.

But LaMelo Ball admitted that he wasn't really big on basketball when he was growing up. Yes, he played tons of basketball but he looked up to his father as his role model and professional ballers like James. As such, he will treat his first duel with the Lakers and James like any other game.

It's an interesting look inside the mind of one of today's youngest stars. Let's see how he can help the Hornets further down the line.