Heat, Hornets react to NBA ruling on uncalled LaMelo Ball foul, and how he’ll be eligible to play

MIAMI (AP) — In Miami, the NBA’s decision that LaMelo Ball grabbing Bam Adebayo was an ejection-worthy flagrant foul didn’t register much of a reaction. In Charlotte, the fact that the ruling didn’t include a suspension brought relief.

And Adebayo wants the league to look at how plays like that can be reviewed going forward.

Ball will play Friday for the Hornets in their play-in elimination game at Orlando — the reality that Charlotte coach Charles Lee hoped for, and something that Miami coach Erik Spoelstra didn’t seem to have a problem with.

“I didn’t think that he needed to be penalized more moving forward. I don’t think that would make sense,” Spoelstra said Thursday as the Heat held their season-ending meetings — two days after being eliminated from the postseason with a 127-126 loss in Charlotte, a game that Adebayo missed much of after being injured on a play where Ball grabbed at his ankle as he was falling.

“I don’t think he’s a dirty player. I just think, in that moment, all things can be true,” Spoelstra said. “It was a dirty play and a dangerous play. It should have been caught at that moment. But it wasn’t and then, you know, you move on.”

The league said Ball made “unnecessary and reckless contact” with Adebayo. Ball was fined $35,000 for the foul, plus another $25,000 for using profanity in a postgame on-court interview.

“Everybody’s going to have their opinion on it,” Adebayo said when asked his thoughts on the play. “Nobody’s really going to know the truth but LaMelo if it was dirty or not, obviously. Everybody’s going to try to defend him or defend me. … We move on at this point.”

The flagrant foul from Tuesday’s game, if called as a Category 2 in real time, would have resulted in Miami being awarded two free throws and possession of the ball — plus would have led to Ball’s ejection.

An NBA investigation is standard after such plays; referee Zach Zarba even told a pool reporter Tuesday night that the league would be looking into the play further. The league’s word came late Wednesday night, and only then could Lee exhale.

“I think the league handed out something that was what they deemed to be fair,” Lee said in Charlotte on Thursday before the team’s flight to Orlando. “And we’re glad that we still have him going on to the next game. I know he never has the intent to try to hurt anybody out there on the court. But I’m glad everything’s kind of settled now.”

Per NBA rules, the Heat could not challenge the ruling on the play because no foul was called. Play continued, leaving no opportunity for a replay review. Adebayo was diagnosed with a lower-back contusion as a result of the fall, and he wondered why mechanisms exist to take 3-point makes off the scoreboard after several more minutes of play — but incidents like the one Tuesday can’t be reviewed unless immediately whistled.

“I think the officials handled it, I guess, by the rule book,” Adebayo said. “I feel like it’ll be a change at some point. It doesn’t make sense that three or four plays go by and you can review a 3-point shot but you can’t review a hostile act.”

It’s at least the second time Ball has been involved in such a play with Adebayo. During a game at Miami in January 2024, when Ball grabbed at Adebayo’s leg as the Heat star was running to the other end of the court. Adebayo stumbled but did not fall.

“There’s never been any, like, bad blood between us. … There’s always been good conversations,” Adebayo said. “As far as those incidents, I can’t tell you what goes through his mind.”

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