Earlier this month, it was announced by the Illawara Hawks of the Australian NBL that LaMelo Ball would miss four weeks due to a foot injury. ESPN/Draft Express' Jonathan Givony provided more details back on December 8th:
"Ball suffered a bruised foot in practice with the Illawara Hawks of the Australian NBL last week and was prescribed to rest by a foot specialist he visited, which will likely keep him out of action until January...Ball will rehab his injury in Australia and is expected to make a full recovery and continue to play for the Hawks as they close out the regular season in mid-February."
On the surface, this injury doesn't seem like a big deal. Given the injury happened towards the beginning of this month, Ball should be back in the next week or two. It seems like both he and the Hawks are being precautious. Both for the sake of his NBA career and for the sake of their season. It certainly isn't anything that should cost him any time come NBA training camp in the fall of 2020.
At the same time, missing these four weeks gives NBA teams less opportunities to watch him play and more importantly, he'll enter the NBA draft with this injury on his resume. Even though it doesn't seem like a big deal, NBA teams factor in everything when it comes to picking a player. You can bet they'll be asking him about his foot and doing their due diligence on that. Will it cause him slide in the draft? Probably not, but you never know. He could also suffer another seemingly minor setback that casts more seeds of doubt in the minds of NBA teams.
Overall, Ball's injury as I said isn't something to worry about. At least not right now. But it is something to be aware of when looking ahead to the 2020 NBA draft. All these little things matter. Especially when there's so much money and expectations on the line with each pick.
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