After a thrilling win over the Miami Heat on Tuesday night in the play-in tournament, the Charlotte Hornets needed just one more victory to secure the No. 8 seed in the NBA postseason.
However, from the opening tip on Friday night, they were overwhelmed by the Orlando Magic. Charlotte trailed 38–16 after the first quarter and ultimately fell 121–90 in a lopsided defeat.
Following the loss, LaMelo Ball’s father, LaVar Ball, posted a video calling out the Hornets’ coaching staff — led by head coach Charles Lee — for what he felt was giving up too early, specifically criticizing the decision not to keep LaMelo in the game until the final buzzer.
“Now we can put the Charlotte staff on alert,” Ball said. “Yes indeed. Now you don’t got to worry about filling up no arena because guess what? You ain’t going to the playoffs.
“So if you want to go to the playoffs, three Balls are better than one,” he added. “I keep telling y’all, if you want to go far you gotta get all the Ball boys. The chemistry and the speed is unmatched. You got to be a heck of a coach to coach Melo. He’s a killer — and you know what you do with a killer? You leave him in until the end… that coach gave up a little too early to me.”
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LaMelo echoed a similar sentiment postgame — though in a much more measured way — pointing to the team running too many set plays early and suggesting he should have been more aggressive from the start.
“I feel like we were running a lot of plays and getting pushed around,” Ball said after the game. “I should’ve just taken the ball from the beginning.”
That approach mirrored his mindset in the first play-in game, where he scored a game-high 30 points despite struggling from beyond the arc.
LaVar has long pushed the idea of bringing all three Ball brothers together, but at this point, that vision feels unlikely. Lonzo Ball has dealt with multiple injuries in recent years and was recently waived by the Utah Jazz, making him a free agent and technically available for the Hornets to sign this offseason.
Meanwhile, the third Ball brother, LiAngelo, has been out of the league for several years and has shifted his focus to a music career. Given that his previous attempts to stick on an NBA roster didn’t pan out, a return at this stage would be a significant long shot.
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