The Chicago Bulls-Charlotte Hornets: a battle between siblings to have observed

The Chicago Bulls season so far hasn’t given fans that much to be excited about. The Bulls are currently sitting at 18-24 and are 10th in the Eastern Conference standings and are slowly fading out of playoff contention.

Both of the Bulls star players, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic, have been the subjects of trade rumors and could be off the Bulls roster by next month’s trade deadline.

The Bulls did give fans something to be excited for, however, with LaMelo Ball and the Charlotte Hornets squaring off against Lonzo Ball and the Bulls in the siblings fourth meeting going against each other.

The sibling rivalry

The brothers squared off in what was the fourth meeting and their first time going against each other in a little over three years. The series is now tied at 2-2 with the Hornets beating the Bulls 125-123. LaMelo’s star proved to shine brighter than Lonzo’s, sadly, with the younger brother scoring 26 points and dishing out 9 assists in 32 minutes. For Lonzo’s part off the bench, he gave the Bulls 25 minutes with scoring 6 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Both brothers were eager for the matchup with LaMelo, acknowledging that both are aware of the series record, with him saying, per Darnell Mayberry of the New York Times:

“We were talking about our record,” Lonzo said. “I was telling him it was 2-2. He can’t be too happy about that. But to him, it’s 3-1 his way. And I don’t know how that guy thinks sometimes (laughs).”

With Lonzo adding in:

“Being a big brother and looking over him his whole life, to see that he’s got to the highest stage, and now he’s leading the league in All-Star votes in the East, he’s doing his thing, averaging almost 30,” Lonzo said. “So, it’s definitely a blessing to see him go out there and do the things that I know that he can do on a nightly basis.”

Different career trajectories for the Ball Brothers

At this point in their careers, LaMelo has proven to be a bigger star than Lonzo, who had a ton of hype when he first came into the league. Lonzo, sadly, for this season, has struggled to stay healthy; he missed significant time due to a knee injury that took a while to heal and had him debut with the Bulls in December. The older Ball has proven to be a capable bench player when out on the court with career averages of 11.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 6 assists.

LaMelo, however, has proven to be more of the star that Lonzo was hyped to be. The younger Ball has also struggled with injuries, which has limited his time on the court for the past couple of seasons, but when LaMelo is out on the court, he has shown he’s capable of being an offensive threat with averages for his career of 21.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 7.4 assists.

When is the siblings next matchup?

The Bulls play the Hornets again this season on April 6 in their building. By that point the Bulls will possibly be a whole different team with the game coming after the trade deadline. If the Bulls do in fact move on from Zach LaVine, then Lonzo could figure to be more a part of the offense and put up more of a matchup against his brother.