Charles Lee drops a brutally honest 3-word picture of a collision with LaMelo Ball
Early in a 102-95 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. A Charlotte Hornets team on the rise during the last month, a terrifying moment happened when LaMelo Balltrying to make a rush play by saving the ball from going out of bounds, collided with head coach Charles Lee on the sidelines.
It wasn’t exactly clear what Lee was doing, as the ball appeared to have a chance to stay in play as Ball got to it before it bounced out of bounds. He tried to stop it from ricocheting towards the bulletin board, but he didn’t need it at all. And after the game, the head coach of the Hornets he called himself because he got in the way of what would have been a good game from his star point guard.
“Melo just keeps competing. I took the playoffs. … Kudos to him,” Lee said with a laugh, via Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer . “Obviously I apologized.”
“Stupid ** coach.”
Charles Lee entered the interview room and joked that he was going to be brief because he had a headache.
“Stupid coach,” he said.
Asked him what happened. He said it was his fault and credited LaMelo with trying to keep the ball in play: pic.twitter.com/F4oevlmKr4
— Rod Boone (@rodboone) February 2, 2026
All’s well that ends well; Ball didn’t suffer any lingering effects from his head-to-head clash with the head coach, eventually playing 30 minutes on the night and finishing with 24 points, five rebounds and eight assists.
The hornets continue their roaring ascent
The Hornets’ 23-28 record doesn’t at all reflect how well they’ve played of late. The offense didn’t run as well Monday as it has the past few weeks, but they locked down defensively when it mattered – holding the Pelicans to just 13 points in the fourth to complete the comeback.
They build a conquering the culture there in Charlotteand Lee deserves a lot of credit for maximizing the talent at his disposal.
2026-02-03 02:32:00
