StatIQPlayer projections, with the receipts

LaMelo Ball vs top defenses

MIN · 2025-26 to 2026-27 · regular season

LaMelo Ball has averaged 20.1 points and 5.6 assists per game in 19 games against top-5 defenses, vs 19.6 points and 7.1 assists in 53 games against everyone else (2025-26 to 2026-27, regular season).

Vs top-5 defenses
20.1
points per game · 19 games
Vs everyone else
19.6
points per game · 53 games
Difference
+0.5
per game, top 5 minus everyone else

Career and by season

LaMelo Ball per game averages against top-5 defenses and everyone else, career and by season
PeriodOpponentsGamesPTSREBAST3PMSTLBLKMINFG%FT%TS%eFG%PTS diff vs others
CareerTop 51920.14.85.63.71.10.228.441.1%91.7%55.0%51.8%+0.5
Everyone else5319.64.37.13.91.30.227.241.0%88.5%55.1%52.6%
2026-27Top 5110.08.04.00.03.00.020.120.0%100.0%39.6%20.0%−7.9
Everyone else717.93.06.13.71.60.027.045.0%64.3%58.9%58.0%
2025-26Top 51820.74.65.73.90.90.228.941.8%90.5%55.6%52.8%+0.8
Everyone else4619.94.57.23.91.30.327.340.5%91.9%54.6%51.9%

Every game against top-5 defenses

  1. Oct 31, 2026at SAS · No. 3 defense (prior season's final)10 pts, 8 reb, 4 ast · 0 3PM · 3 stl, 0 blk · 20 min
  2. Apr 10, 2026vs DET · No. 2 defense (that season, games so far)27 pts, 5 reb, 8 ast · 6 3PM · 2 stl, 1 blk · 33 min
  3. Apr 7, 2026at BOS · No. 4 defense (that season, games so far)36 pts, 5 reb, 6 ast · 6 3PM · 1 stl, 0 blk · 37 min
  4. Apr 5, 2026at MIN · No. 5 defense (that season, games so far)35 pts, 3 reb, 8 ast · 7 3PM · 1 stl, 0 blk · 31 min
  5. Mar 29, 2026vs BOS · No. 4 defense (that season, games so far)19 pts, 4 reb, 3 ast · 3 3PM · 1 stl, 0 blk · 26 min
  6. Mar 26, 2026vs NYK · No. 5 defense (that season, games so far)22 pts, 5 reb, 6 ast · 4 3PM · 0 stl, 0 blk · 36 min
  7. Mar 17, 2026vs MIA · No. 4 defense (that season, games so far)30 pts, 6 reb, 13 ast · 4 3PM · 1 stl, 0 blk · 33 min
  8. Mar 14, 2026at SAS · No. 3 defense (that season, games so far)17 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast · 4 3PM · 3 stl, 1 blk · 22 min
  9. Mar 6, 2026vs MIA · No. 4 defense (that season, games so far)21 pts, 2 reb, 5 ast · 5 3PM · 1 stl, 0 blk · 33 min
  10. Mar 4, 2026at BOS · No. 4 defense (that season, games so far)18 pts, 7 reb, 4 ast · 4 3PM · 0 stl, 0 blk · 23 min
  11. Feb 19, 2026vs HOU · No. 5 defense (that season, games so far)11 pts, 7 reb, 7 ast · 1 3PM · 1 stl, 0 blk · 31 min
  12. Feb 9, 2026vs DET · No. 2 defense (that season, games so far)20 pts, 4 reb, 4 ast · 4 3PM · 0 stl, 0 blk · 29 min
  13. Feb 5, 2026at HOU · No. 4 defense (that season, games so far)20 pts, 6 reb, 4 ast · 5 3PM · 0 stl, 0 blk · 29 min
  14. Jan 31, 2026vs SAS · No. 3 defense (that season, games so far)16 pts, 8 reb, 8 ast · 2 3PM · 0 stl, 0 blk · 32 min
  15. Jan 7, 2026vs TOR · No. 5 defense (that season, games so far)15 pts, 7 reb, 7 ast · 1 3PM · 1 stl, 0 blk · 25 min
  16. Jan 5, 2026at OKC · No. 1 defense (that season, games so far)16 pts, 2 reb, 2 ast · 4 3PM · 0 stl, 0 blk · 25 min
  17. Dec 31, 2025vs GSW · No. 3 defense (that season, games so far)27 pts, 5 reb, 5 ast · 7 3PM · 3 stl, 0 blk · 30 min
  18. Dec 20, 2025at DET · No. 2 defense (that season, games so far)8 pts, 1 reb, 6 ast · 2 3PM · 2 stl, 2 blk · 23 min
  19. Nov 29, 2025vs TOR · No. 4 defense (that season, games so far)14 pts, 2 reb, 5 ast · 1 3PM · 0 stl, 0 blk · 22 min

What counts: a team's defensive rating is 100 × the points its opponents scored ÷ possessions, with possessions = FGA + 0.44*FTA - OREB + TOV, mean of both teams. A game's rank uses only games played before that date. Until every team has 15 games, the prior season's final ranks are used (8 games here, 64 games ranked on that season's games so far). Games are regular season; games he did not play are not counted. 10 games where the opponent's rank could not be determined are left out of both columns. TS% = PTS ÷ (2 × (FGA + 0.44 × FTA)); eFG% = (FGM + 0.5 × 3PM) ÷ FGA; both from totals for each row. Past results, not a projection.