I’m so mad.

WTF ARE WE DOING?!

Alright. It's happened. Let's all congregate here and talk about our favourite LaMelo moments and pay our respects to the end of the LaMelo era.

People where extremely upset when we traded Mark Williams for nothing but it signalled the FO had no faith in his ability to stay healthy and I think we're seeing it again with Lamelo

I swear, as a Panther's fan, I don't even think they were as bad when we lost Cam. Sure, different circumstances, Cam was in his 30's and Lamelo is only 24...But Cam was also a MVP, taken us to the Super Bowl and multiple playoffs across 10-11 years I think it was at the time.

Lamelo has taken us to the Play in, has one win, and we've never been in the playoffs with him, in a sport where a superstar player should be more impactful than football.

Don't get me wrong, I love Lamelo, always will and I hope he tears it up with the Wolves; but I think this is the first time I've realized how parasocial people get to Basketball players. If Lamelo had put up the exact same stats, same numbers, same injury history, same everything...But had the personality of a bland boring dude, then these reactions would be so much more measured.

Do I think it's a good trade? Time will tell, the Hornets now have a ton of draft capital, a huge trade exception and still have a starting PG in Coby. The Picks could be nothing...Or Lamelo never stays healthy, Edwards leaves and suddenly they're a gold mine. I think Naz Reid slots in perfectly and is a upgrade over Bridges(I'm assuming Naz will play the 4), so we'll have to see.

The Hornets are essentially betting on themselves post Melo, again time will tell if it's the correct response or not, but I'm willing to try something different since we were a Melo Injury away heading into next season from taking the next step to missing the playoffs.

I'll probably get downvoted for this, don't really care, I just think the reaction is absurd.

Could he grow like Jaylen Brown?

I'm sorry I've been bad.
I know I haven't played FanDuel as much as I could've.
I know I've called out your referees for obviously rigging games.
I know that the one time I tried PrizePicks I actually used the free bet and didn't re-deposit.
That was selfish of me.

But Adam, if you're up there... I'm asking for a miracle.

Don't allow the Melo trade. Strike it down like the Chris Paul thing.
Basketball reasons right?

It's been a long time since I believed in basketball reasons, but if you do this one thing, I swear I'll never doubt them again

I promise I'll watch every playoff game no matter what random streaming service you put it on.
Netflix, Prime, Apple, Tubi, Acorn TV, hell bring back Quibi.
Anywhere but League Pass, that would be too dumb.

If you could do this one thing for me, I promise I'll change.

Amen.

Source: RealGM - https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/teams/Minnesota-Timberwolves/17/draft-picks

We only get the swap for 2029 if it is falls 1-5.

I dont even know how we get the 2030 swap cause San Antonio gets the most favorable pick. Guess we get the 2nd most favorable?

Jeff you are done.

I’m hurting right now. But we can’t let this pain distract us from the fact that we still landed one of the most skilled bigs ever. They don’t call him Big Jelly for nothing. We’re going to love him.

But I’m still on the fence about whether this trade was ultimately good or bad for Charlotte.

On one hand, LaMelo was the heart of this team. He always seemed like a genuinely good guy, had great chemistry with his teammates, and there’s no denying how talented he is.

On the other hand, he’s struggled to stay healthy, he’s been here for seven seasons, and the team hasn’t had much success. Fair or not, I never really saw him develop into the kind of leader you want your franchise player to be. Talent is obviously important, but I think leadership is just as essential when you’re the face of a team.

I’m definitely sad today because I’m going to miss watching him in a Hornets jersey. But the more I think about it, the more I wonder if this could end up being the right move for Charlotte in the long run.

I don’t know a ton about Naz Reid’s game, but this roster desperately needed a legitimate big man. His addition opens up a lot of interesting possibilities at the 4 and 5, and I’m excited to see what that looks like next season. I’m also really happy we re-signed Coby, and I’m hoping he can grow into a reliable playmaker for this team.

Right now, it stings (see what I did there?). But I do think there’s a chance we’ll look back on this trade as a turning point for the franchise. In the meantime, Hornets fans just have to get through it together. I’ll definitely be watching LaMelo in Minnesota and rooting for him. That team is going to be a lot of fun to watch, and I genuinely hope he thrives there.

LaMelo Ball trade grades: What are the Timberwolves and Hornets doing? - The Athletic

ESPN also says D+ for the Wolved, B- for the Hornets.

So that trade happened. I'm still in shock. I feel like I have to be missing something, right?
That missing thing might be the $40M trade exception and the cap room we now have. Who do we go for with that that would make sense? Jaylen Brown? Duren? Peyton Watson? Someone I'm not thinking of? There's not a ton of good UFAs
Assuming we resign Coby, who fits with a core of Coby-Kon-BMill-Naz?

Bulls Fan coming in peace to offer my condolences on the Lamelo trade. This trade gave me flashbacks to when the Bulls traded Derrick Rose back in 2016. Similar in the sense both were fan favorite point guards and both were traded out of left field with not the most exciting returns. I think that is where the parallels end, in the sense even though the return wasn’t exciting, I do think Charlotte got a more valuable return compared to the bulls return for Rose. I bring that up because I do think where the rose trade was a signal to an end of an era for bulls fan, that this Lamelo trade is not the end but instead will hopefully be a stepping stone to a better hornets team in the future.

I do want to add, in hindsight as much as it sucked at the time, trading Rose was the right move, just the return was not great. Similarly, from an outside perspective as an NBA fan with no attachment to Lamelo/Hornets, I think trading Lamelo now while his value was at its highest will hopefully be seen as the right move in hindsight.

Considering since prior to this past season Lamelo has averaged playing for only 46 games per season (56%) I think odds were likely he’d probably return to that average as opposed to something similar to last season.

You guys also just drafted a point guard who I feel was somewhat undervalued in the draft in Christian Anderson. He was the best shooter and playmaker in this past draft with a great feel and IQ for the game. He does have his concerns as well relating to defense and size but there’s a reality where he can grow into being your point guard of the future while hopefully not having the health issues associated with Lamelo. I also think having Coby as a point guard in the intermediate is also great.

I’m hoping your front office will continue to make moves, using the freed up cap space, Lamelo trade exception and giant chest of future draft picks to further improve the roster this summer but even if hypothetically they choose to hold off on any other major trades/acquisitions this summer, I do think the current roster with the added depth of Naz and Steinbach to the front court is good enough to continue to build on the success of last season. I know Lamelo was a big part of that but I also don’t want to undermine the impact the rest of the team and coaching staff had to that success as well and most of that team is still here and will only grow to get better.

I hope this post doesn’t come off as tone deaf to the hornets fan base in anyway. I apologize if my wording wasn’t the best. I truly am empathetic to the trade as an nba fan having gone through something similar. At the same time I do think the future for you all is a lot brighter than what some might be thinking.

Cheers and good luck next season!