LaMelo Ball's Broken Wrist is a Huge Blow to Fun Basketball

LaMelo Ball's brilliant rookie season may have just ended. The Charlotte Hornets announced their prized 19-year-old has a broken bone in his right wrist and is likely to miss the rest of the season. Ball suffered the injury on a fall during Charlotte's 125-98 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday. The diagnosis was made public on Sunday evening.

Here's video of the play where he suffered the injury:

Ball was a revelation in his first NBA season and was the front-runner to be named Rookie of the Year. If he is indeed done for the year, he'll finish having averaged 15.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.6 steals in 28.6 minutes per game. He also hit 37.5 percent of his 3-point shots and 78.9 percent of his free throws, while posting a solid PER of 18.52.

More than anything though, Ball was a lot of fun to watch. He made highlight-reel plays on a nightly basis and made everyone around him better. The Hornets were a popular League Pass team as a result of their young, athletic, run-and-gun style. All of that was centered on Ball's play.

Hopefully Ball is able to recover quickly and be healthy for a full offseason heading into his second year. And hopefully voters reward him with a deserved Rookie of the Year award despite playing only 41 games. He was easily the best player to come out of the 2020 NBA Draft and should be honored as such.