Charles Lee denies LaMelo Ball benching had anything to do with sending a message

The Charlotte Hornets head coach speaks on his decision earlier in the week.

Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

It's been a handful of days since Charlotte Hornets head coach Charles Lee made the precarious, yet bold decision to bench point guard LaMelo Ball for the final three minutes and forty-eight seconds against the Brooklyn Nets.

Although Lee addressed the decision in his postgame press conference on Tuesday, it's remained a hot topic of conversation not only in Charlotte but around the association. Is there something behind the benching other than LaMelo's offensive struggles that night in Brooklyn?

Could it be Lee trying to send some sort of message to the young star? That's what many on social media began to wonder, but according to Lee, that's not the case.

“There was no message being sent by me," Lee said during a radio interview with WFNZ. "I think that it was a tough decision that I had to make in the moment. I thought Tre (Mann), and really it’s not even about Tre to be honest with you, it’s the whole group that I thought finished that third quarter playing really well, helped gain some momentum. And in the moment, I just felt that group was going to help us at the end of the game as well to kind of finish it out.

"Melo, the kind of competitor that he is, obviously wants to be out there," Lee continued. "He’s done phenomenal things in the fourth quarter, but the professional that he is and the great teammate that he is, he continued to be supportive of his teammates throughout the whole game. I appreciate the way that he handled it. He and I had a conversation about the tough decision that I had to make, and we’re learning from that game and all that we can take from it, and we’re going to keep getting better as the season goes on.”

Ball responded with a big night on Thursday, helping the Hornets to a 123-121 victory over the much-improved Detroit Pistons. He finished the game with 35 points on 12-of-27 shooting, including 4-of-14 from three-point land. He also added nine assists and six rebounds before fouling out.

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