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LaMelo Ball ruled out for Friday's matinee against the New York Knicks

LaMelo Ball will miss his first game of the season with a calf injury.

Austin Leake

Sam Sharpe-Imagn Images
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It has been an incredible season for LaMelo Ball, but not so much for the Hornets who have dealt with injuries to key players outside of Ball. Unfortunately, the injury bug struck Ball on Wednesday as he suffered a calf injury in the closing seconds of the game in the loss versus Miami.

Ball has been ruled OUT for Friday's game versus New York and it's currently unclear how much time the 23-year-old will miss with the injury. Below is where the injury seemed to occur.

Ball joins the long list of players who are currently unavailable for the Hornets. Seven other players are currently ruled OUT for the Hornets. Miles Bridges, Tre Mann, Grant Williams, Mark Williams, and Nick Richards are key rotation players for the team, who have all missed time this season.

The hope is that this is more of a precautionary thing for the Hornets, who have played their star player in all of the 18 games this season. Also, with the game being at noon on Friday, there's a real chance that the team could be playing it safe, especially on the first game of a back-to-back.

The Hornets play the Atlanta Hawks the following day, which will be a good test to see if this is a long or short-term injury for Ball.

Ball has had arguably the best start to a season in Hornets' history. As well, he's been one of the best performers in the league, as he leads the NBA in total points this season with 559 points. Ball is also 2nd in points per game with 31.1 points and has scored the most points in the fourth quarter.

The Hornets have relied on Ball's talents for the entire season, as he has accumulated for most of the team's offense each and every night on the court. In fact, Ball scored over half of the team's points earlier this week versus Orlando, where he scored 44 of the Hornets' 84 points.

Now, the Hornets will have to figure out the reins of the offense without him, for however long their star player is unavailable. Vasilije Micic and Nick Smith Jr. will likely receive the minutes in replacement of Ball.

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Austin Leake
AUSTIN LEAKE

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