New Delhi, July 19, 2022: LaMelo Ball has a strong aversion to the No. 2.
So it’s odd that the Charlotte Hornets All-Star wore the number on his jersey for the first two seasons of his NBA career. He won’t moving forward. The Athletic’s Shams Charania reports that Ball has been granted approval to switch to No. 1 starting next season.
Why the switch? Let Ball explain. Here he is during his season-ending news conference in April:
Why Ball didn’t wear No. 1 from the start
Ball wore No. 1 his entire career prior to joining the Hornets — in high school, AAU, Lithuania and Australia. So why exactly did he wear No. 2 during his first two seasons in Charlotte?
When he arrived, Malik Monk was a Hornet and claimed No. 1 for himself. Monk left the Hornets to play for the Los Angeles Lakers last season. Per Charlotte’s WCNC, Ball applied to switch numbers upon Monk’s exit last offseason, but missed a deadline. He didn’t make that mistake twice according to the reports published in sports.yahoo.com.
So No. 1 was claimed, but the question remains: why did he wear No. 2 if he loathes it so much? Or does any number that isn’t No. 1 elicit the same disdain? Also, if No. 2 is so vile, what does that say about Ball’s thoughts on his brother Lonzo?
