Isaiah Thomas is helping LaMelo Ball so much, the Hornets are keeping him around

Being with the Charlotte Hornets over the last week and a half has provided Isaiah Thomas with the opportunity to watch LaMelo Ball up close.

Let’s just say he’s impressed with the trajectory.

“I mean, he’s going to be the face of this league,” Thomas said after Friday night’s 142-120 win over New Orleans at Smoothie King Center. “He’s already an All-Star. Give him two or three years and he’s going to be top-five, top-10 in this league easily. He’s a special talent. He’s very young. He has great energy. His pace to the game, you can’t teach his pace. And he’s, what, 6-foot-7? He has the full package.”

Thomas’ hope is to help wrap it up and place a neat bow on top.

“My job while I’m here is to have him focus on taking every possession serious and leading this team,” Thomas said. “Even though he’s 19, 20 years old, he has the ball in his hands a lot. So he has to be able to take that responsibility of leading guys even if it’s not vocal — just by how he plays. And he did a great example of that tonight. The sky’s the limit for the kid.”

Thomas is going to get the opportunity to continue witnessing Ball’s ascension. In a move first reported by The Observer, he was officially signed to a second 10-day contract on Saturday.

It makes perfect sense given the huge effect Thomas has produced in his initial 10 days with the franchise. The 33-year old is turning out to be everything they could have asked for and more, assisting the Hornets in a variety of ways.

“He’s just keeping everybody level-headed,” Miles Bridges said. “He’s been where we want to go. He’s been to the playoffs, he’s been to the Eastern Conference Finals, I believe. So he’s keeping everybody level-headed, making everybody understand it’s a long game, they go on a run, that we are good, let’s go on another run and get stops and do all the little stuff. So he’s just being a great vet. He’s a great teammate.”

The influence of Thomas on the Hornets and Ball goes beyond his role as a pseudo-coach or another set of eyeballs. In the three games he’s played in, he’s been effective and given them a spark, just like he did in a much-needed victory over the Pelicans that snapped a two-game losing streak and left them in ninth place in the Eastern Conference with 14 games remaining.

Thomas, who scored 14 points, found himself part of a new wrinkle that spurred the Hornets offensively. Coach James Borrego paired Thomas in the backcourt with Ball and it appeared to ignite them. Ball netted seven of his 19 points in the second quarter. That’s when the Hornets seized control on the way to connecting on 59.8 percent of their shots, marking their highest field-goal percentage in a game since 2008.

The subtle adjustment is something the Pelicans likely weren’t anticipating, and certainly nothing they had scouted. Things can get stale offensively at this point of this season because teams often know what the opponent wants to do thanks to the five months of video footage they have to aid in their game preparation. A tandem of Ball and Thomas gives off the unique look and puts the Hornets’ best playmaker in a different place on the floor.

“It makes them think and it adds to their scouting focus,” Borrego said. “I’d like to get Melo off the ball more. They are so loaded up on him, so physical with him on pick-and-rolls that if I can move him off the ball it’s just going to add another dimension to our offense. And the way I.T. can see the gym, he understands matchups.

“He’s an extension of me out there on the floor. He sees the matchups, he sees he plays we need to go to, and he’s going to make that happen out there on the floor. So it just adds more depth to this offense.”

Bridges is all for it.

“Melo, he’s good off the ball, on the ball, it really doesn’t matter,” Bridges said. “I like what Coach did mixing it up, though, because it got Melo going offensively with him scoring. And then when Melo just gets going, there’s nothing the other team can do. So I think it was a good job by Coach mixing it in like that.”

That pairing allowed Ball to get downhill in a different fashion than normal, giving him a path and more breathing room to distribute some of his nine assists. The Hornets recorded 41 assists, which was most since establishing the franchise record of 42 against Dallas in 2014.

“That was one of the most complete games, Melo, that I’ve seen him play,” Thomas said. “As in he controlled the offense each and every possession. He controlled everything the whole game, and I think that’s what gave guys the confidence to come out and play like that. He’s the head of the snake, so when he plays like that the team is tough to beat for sure.”

Thomas initially seemed like he wanted to utter “we” rather than the word team, but he could’ve been apprehensive about jinxing his newfound place of employment. No need, though. He’s not going anywhere yet. He’s fit in perfectly.

“I’m comfortable here,” Thomas said. “These guys welcomed me with open arms. The coaching staff welcomed me with open arms and they are allowing me to be myself. They are allowing me to lead, they are allowing me to be vocal and help the young guys out. And that’s what I’m here to do, is put an imprint on those younger guys, because like I’ve said earlier, I’ve seen everything.

“I’ve seen everything in this league and my wisdom and my experience can help them with these young guys, because they are already talented. But you’ve got to be more than talented to be successful in this league. So my job is to help Melo, my job is to help T-Ro (Terry Rozier) and everybody down the line while I’m here, is to just be a positive impact on the organization any way I can.”