LaMelo Ball is set to miss at least two weeks with a calf strain injury

A huge blow to the Charlotte Hornets early in the season.

Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

The dark cloud continues to hover over the Charlotte Hornets organization. Saturday afternoon, the team announced that point guard LaMelo Ball has been diagnosed with a calf strain and will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

Ball missed yesterday's game against the New York Knicks as a precautionary measure. With the Thanksgiving holiday and the early tip time yesterday, the team didn't have quite enough time to fully evaluate the injury.

Friday's game also marked the first game Ball had missed all season. Though the first 18 games of the year, he averaged 31.1 points, 6.9 assists, and 5.4 rebounds per game while shooting 43% from the field and 35% from three-point land.

After getting benched in the final three minutes of a one-point loss to the Brooklyn Nets, Ball went on a tear offensively, collecting 35, 50, 44, and 32-point outings. In some of those games, he was just a couple of rebounds and assists shy of notching a triple-double.

With Ball and fellow guard Tre Mann on the shelf for the foreseeable future, the Hornets will need guys like Vasilije Micic and rookie KJ Simpson to step up into larger roles.

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