The Hornets have struggled hard this season, winning only 14 of their 60 games. LaMelo Ball, who’s suited up for 38 contests, just hasn’t been the game-changer fans hoped for. In fact, over his first five seasons, the team has seen only one winning year—a hard pill to swallow if you’re rooting for them.

With these stats in mind, it’s entirely possible that Charlotte GM Jeff Peterson might start thinking about flipping his star. He’s shown before that he won’t hesitate to move on from young talent if things don’t work out. Remember the near-move with Mark Williams to the Lakers that fell through because of a failed physical? Michael Scotto over at hoopshype.com is now hinting that Ball could be the subject of offseason trade rumors.

On Run It Back on FanDuel, Ryen Russillo, who was with ESPN from 2007 to 2019—raised concerns about his maturity and approach to the game as trade rumors continue to swirl. “His value is probably a little bit lower than 13-year-olds would think.” Russillo said bluntly.

Russillo stated, “He is incredibly talented. You know, his start stop start again at his size, like when you see him when it’s when it’s nice you’re like man. And then you know, look, he can see over the top everybody because of all of his size, uh.”

He didn’t hold back on his concerns either, adding, “I look at some of the lamelo numbers like he’s at 41% overall this season, and he takes the most shots per game in the NBA.”

The real concern, however, lies in Ball’s overall impact on team success. “This team is stuck. If this is what they’re going to run out there every season where it’s like, ‘Hey man, just go for it,’” Russillo said. “He’s been through a bunch of coaches. You can see it different times. Every coach that he’s had has had moments of frustration with his approach.”. A warning for the other 29 teams who’ll be looking to shop him, he comes with his issues.

Russillo continued “It’s not somebody who’s without talent, because that would be so unfair of me to say, but his approach to the game holds your franchise back, and I don’t know how long it’s going to take for him to mature and evolve and get to that point where it’s like, you need to find a way to play this game a little bit differently because this doesn’t work.”

If you’re following the Hornets, you can understand the unease. The critique comes at a time when the franchise is under the microscope, and fans wonder if Ball’s game is mature enough to anchor the team. Russillo’s criticism of LaMelo feeds into a bigger issue—the Hornets are a disaster, and their season has been nothing short of miserable.

Is LaMelo Ball the only problem within the Hornets?

Charlotte hasn’t just been bad; they’ve been unwatchable. They’ve dropped seven straight, with their only decent performance coming against a Mavericks squad missing key players. Defense? A mess. Offense? Somehow worse. While most teams clear 100 points by the third quarter, the Hornets have barely averaged 94.2 over their last six games.

Blaming injuries only goes so far. The real issue? A stale, predictable offense. They rank near the bottom in shooting efficiency, assists, and scoring, yet Charles Lee keeps leaning into a three-point-heavy system that clearly isn’t working. Outside of Ball and Miles Bridges, there’s almost no shot creation, though Damion Baugh has been a pleasant surprise.

After Monday’s loss to the Warriors, Ball had a simple suggestion: “I feel like we’ve just got to find our identity, see what we’re going to do, see the shots we want, and then go for those shots. I like to push fast, play fast pace.”

Ironically, Lee promised an uptempo offense but has the Hornets sitting 21st in pace and second-to-last in fastbreak points.

The Hornets’ slow, methodical style doesn’t suit this roster. Fans have been begging for a faster approach. Maybe now that Ball is saying it, Lee will finally listen.