Charlotte Hornets star guard LaMelo Ball initially refuted a recent report that he was unhappy in Charlotte and wanted a trade with a single emoji on social media. On Friday, he was asked about the report and he refuted it again, this time with his voice.
“He never heard that come from me,” Ball said. “The source is not from me, so it’s false info. Gotta let them know. I really don’t like commenting back on stuff, but when it gets too big you got to say something. It was so much that it was making headlines in Bleacher Report and this and that, so I didn’t want it to keep going on.”
When asked directly if he is content in Charlotte, he doubled down.
“Yeah I love being here. I ain’t said nothing,” Ball said. “I’m just trying to win, that’s it. That’s what we going to keep doing.”
The report in question, from Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports, basically suggested that Ball had grown frustrated in Charlotte and would be open to a trade elsewhere after spending the first five-plus seasons of his career in a Hornets uniform. That report also suggested that the Hornets are similarly open to the idea of trading Ball.
Ball’s vehement denial of the report was a relief to Hornets head coach Charles Lee, who believes that the star guard is committed to Charlotte.
“I’m glad to hear what he had to say because I would echo a lot of the same things,” Lee said. “Our ability to have communication between myself and Melo and [GM Jeff Peterson] is really high, and I think that he’s always communicated to us that he wants to build this thing with us.
“He understands what it’s going to take to try to win and who we need in the building and stuff, so I think that he is just committed to Charlotte. He’s talked about how much he loves the city and the fans, and that’s all I ever heard and that’s all I focus on.”
It sounds like some major drama has been avoided in Charlotte, for the time being at least. However, given Charlotte’s consistent struggles, there’s a real possibility that this isn’t the last time that Ball’s name pops up in trade rumors.
