{"id":531722,"date":"2026-01-12T13:32:35","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T13:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/531722\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T13:32:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T13:32:35","slug":"lamelo-ball-clashing-with-hornets-coach-espn-star-claims-f-k-this-motherf-ker-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/531722\/","title":{"rendered":"LaMelo Ball clashing with Hornets coach, ESPN star claims: \u2018F\u2013k this motherf\u2013ker\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

LaMelo Ball and Charlotte Hornets head coach Charles Lee are reportedly not aligned, according to ESPN analyst and former long-time center Kendrick Perkins.<\/p>\n

Perkins has been vocal about a potential relationship fracture between Ball and the Hornets<\/a>, alleging that the team is intentionally limiting his minutes ahead of a potential trade.<\/p>\n

\"LaMelo<\/p>\n

LaMelo Ball is playing a career low in minutes per game this season. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Perkins also described tensions between the Hornets\u2019 star guard and his coach this week on a recent episode of the Road Trippin\u2019 podcast, suggesting Ball and Lee don\u2019t see eye-to-eye.<\/p>\n

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\u201cOh, it\u2019s smoke over there,\u201d Perkins says of the dynamic in Charlotte. \u201cThe coach feels as if LaMelo is not his guy,\u201d Perkins said. \u201cThe Hornets are gonna have to make a decision, it\u2019s either trade LaMelo or fire the coach. Those two guys don\u2019t see eye-to-eye. I\u2019m telling you straight up, this is a fact, the energy is not there. The coach, he feels as if LaMelo is not his guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ball, drafted in 2020 as the No. 3 overall pick, is in his sixth season with the team.<\/p>\n

\"Charlotte<\/p>\n

Charlotte Hornets head coach Charles Lee is in his second season. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Lee was hired before the 2024-25 season after multiple stints as an assistant coach, notably winning titles with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021 and Boston Celtics in 2024.<\/p>\n

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\u201cLaMelo after a game, yelled in a hallway, and I quote: \u2018F\u2013k this motherf\u2013ker,’\u201d Perkins added, later reiterating, \u201cThey\u2019re not on the same page, period.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warning: Adult Language<\/p>\n

The reported tension comes amid a strange pattern of playing time for Ball.<\/p>\n

Ball is averaging 19.9 points, 5.0 rebounds and 7.8 assists per game this season while shooting approximately 41.3 percent from the field and 37.4 percent from three.<\/p>\n

However, Charlotte\u2019s coaching staff has managed Ball\u2019s minutes in ways that have drawn attention.<\/p>\n

Ball is logging a career-low 27.8 minutes per game this season. On the second of a back-to-back against the Raptors on Jan 8, Ball came off the bench for the first time since his rookie year, and he responded by scoring 33 points in just 27 minutes.<\/p>\n

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Though he has dealt with yet another ankle issue this season, which has plagued Ball in recent years \u2014 contributing to just 105 games played over his last three seasons \u2014 Ball has dropped to just 26.2 minutes per game over his last 13, only hitting 30 minutes once.<\/p>\n

The Hornets are actually 7-7 in their last 14 games, and despite being 14-25, the mark indicates their best start to a season since the 2021-22 season, Ball\u2019s second year in the NBA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LaMelo Ball and Charlotte Hornets head coach Charles Lee are reportedly not aligned, according to ESPN analyst and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3777],"tags":[7,75,5087,684,473,3878,685,2058,966,121,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-531722","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-charlotte-hornets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston-celtics","10":"tag-charles-lee","11":"tag-charlotte","12":"tag-charlotte-hornets","13":"tag-charlottehornets","14":"tag-hornets","15":"tag-kendrick-perkins","16":"tag-lamelo-ball","17":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","18":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115882384289701049","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}