LaMelo Ball officially started his NBA career on Wednesday night in a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. While Terry Rozier went off, the rookie point guard showed his flash, earning a lot of jokes and criticism for his performance.
Ball had a very poor game, going 0 for 5 from the field, including three attempts from beyond the arc. He added one rebound, and three assists with two turnovers to close a night that was anything but good for him.
This was just his first NBA game and he still has a lot of room to improve but the first thing he showed in the league doesn’t seem to be that exciting for the Hornets. The good thing is that everybody on the Charlotte Hornetshas his back, including Gordon Hayward, one of the leaders of the team this campaign.
Gordon Hayward advised LaMelo Ball to forget his first NBA game after embarrassing debut
The former Utah Jazz, Boston Celtics player knows a thing or two about returning from bad situations and that’s exactly what he tried to explain to LaMelo. After the game, Hayward told reporters he advised the player to forget about his first game and move on to the next.
“I told him just to forget this one,” he said, via Jacob Rude of Lonzo Wire. “There’s going to be so many nights where he is, you know, playing his game and playing really well. So, I said ‘Don’t worry about this one at all. We all know the type of player that you are.’ Some days are diamonds, some days are stones and I think it’s something where it’s his first game and, you know, those things happen.”
Melo was one of the most hyped prospects entering this season and he was selected as the 3rd overall pick in November by the Hornets. He still has some things to improve to become a good player in the league but Melo has the right support to reach the level the Hornets expect him to reach. He plays for one of the fiercest competitors in the history of sports, Michael Jordan,so Melo needs to step up.
