Hornet LaMelo Ball thought injury was ‘nothing too big.’ Month later, he’s almost back

Charlotte Hornets rookie LaMelo Ball doesn’t know how soon he’ll play again, but the process of restoring flexibility to his right hand began immediately Tuesday.

A CT scan Monday showed Ball’s fractured right wrist has healed. Ball has been cleared for individual basketball workouts. Before he plays again, he needs to be able to manipulate his right (dominant) hand close to normal to perform as an NBA point guard again.

“I’ve pretty much already started,” Ball said of exercises to counter having his wrist and hand immobilized in a cast for four weeks

“This morning, I had treatment — trying to bend it down, bend it up, all that type of stuff.”

The Hornets have 16 regular-season games left, starting with Tuesday night’s road meeting with the New York Knicks. Getting Ball back into the rotation would be huge to the Hornets’ playoff push. They are 28-28 overall and currently eighth in the Eastern Conference standings.

Since this was a hand injury, rather than lower body, Ball could keep up some conditioning over the last month and has recently worked out before games with Hornets assistant coach Ron Nored, even before the cast was removed.

Hornets coach James Borrego said before the Knicks game there’s no timeline yet on Ball’s return, and no guarantee he will be back this season, although the team is hopeful.

“Nothing is written in stone. There’s an opportunity to get him back (now that) the cast is off,” Borrego said. “Hopefully we see significant (gains) day-to-day in flexibility. He’s young and I’m hopeful that helps that that wrist gets back to normal.

“We have a little bit of time (before the end of the regular season)...The No. 1 thing is it doesn’t sound like he can injure this thing further.”

Ball was the “engine” of Charlotte’s offense, to use coach James Borrego’s word, prior to the injury on March 20 against the Los Angeles Clippers. Ball’s absence, and that of Gordon Hayward and Malik Monk, has been obvious in recent results. The Hornets have lost four of their last five and have four games in the last nine when they failed to score 94 or more points.

Ball’s court vision and look-ahead passes fueled transition offense that has the Hornets sixth in the NBA this season in fast-break points (14.2 per game.).

Ball, in a conference call with Charlotte media, didn’t speculate when he’ll be cleared to play. It figures he’d need at least another week to restore normal use of his hand, but if he’s available by May 1 he could play in the Hornets’ last 10 regular-season games.

Ball, Hayward (foot sprain) and Monk (ankle sprain) combine for roughly 49 points and 12 assists per game. There’s no specific timetable on Monk’s or Hayward’s injuries, although Monk figures to be back sooner. Hayward was still wearing a protective boot on his right foot last week.

Ball injured himself in a hard fall while driving to the rim against the Clippers. He didn’t think he was nearly as hurt as an MRI showed the next day in San Antonio, Texas.

“I was going to the basket and kind of stumbled over my feet,” Ball recalled. “My wrist bent backward in a weird way.”

Ball felt immediate pain, but never imagined he’d done something that would potentially risk the rest of his rookie season.

“I thought it was a sprain — nothing too big — so I’d finish out the game. Probably ice it after the game and be cool for the next one. It started irritating more and more,” Ball said.

Then came the diagnosis: surgery to place a pin in his wrist, and a month in a cast.

“I still didn’t think it was broken,” Ball said. “I never thought it was what it was.”

Injury and positional notes

▪ Borrego said pre-game that P.J. Washington’s “best minutes” this season have come at center, rather than power forward. Washington came off the bench for the second straight game Tuesday against the Knicks, with Miles Bridges starting at power forward and rookie Vernon Carey at center.

▪ Malik Monk isn’t close to playing, Borrego said, in his recovery from a right ankle sprain: “This one has taken a while to heal. It is a slow process right now.” Monk missed his 10th consecutive game since the injury in Brooklyn April 1.

▪ Devonte Graham returned from two games out with a quad contusion, and started versus the Knicks.