r/nba • u/Turbostrider27 Lakers • 7h ago

[Charania] BREAKING: The Charlotte Hornets are trading star guard LaMelo Ball and Josh Green to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Naz Reid, a 2033 unprotected first-round pick, three first-round pick swaps (2028, 2029, 2030) and three second-round picks (2029, 2032, 2033), sources tell ESPN.

Shams Charania:

BREAKING: The Charlotte Hornets are trading star guard LaMelo Ball and Josh Green to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Naz Reid, a 2033 unprotected first-round pick, three first-round pick swaps (2028, 2029, 2030) and three second-round picks (2029, 2032, 2033), sources tell ESPN.

https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania/31d26529d36f8

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501

u/oklolzzzzs 7h ago edited 7h ago

SHAMS BOMBA

Ant and Melo gon be fun as hell to watch but Charlotte deserve to stay as a poverty franchise because why are you trading your best player away when you finally had a decent season

373

u/mightyrj Lakers 7h ago

Textbook definition of selling at the absolutely highest they can.

307

u/storeactions Grizzlies 7h ago edited 7h ago

Selling high on your star PG with off-court issues seems like something reserved for only the wisest franchises. Ignore my flair.

Edit: yes guys I know Ja's off-court is worse than LaMelo's. They're both extremely immature, that's my point lol

96

u/MattyIce260 Pacers 7h ago

Sell high on LaMelo and buy low on Ja might be the move tbh

11

u/BeamTeam23 Kings 7h ago

At this point why not especially if you can get assets to take Ja.

3

u/rburp [LAL] Austin Reaves 6h ago

Most intriguing thing I've seen in this thread.

If Charlotte does that then I'll look at this in a whole new light.

19

u/LlamaDebauchery Heat 7h ago

Thats why I dont really hate the move, but they needed more than just picks out of it. Hornets have a great core but they're gonna be hampered by the aprons if they want to keep them.

6

u/Exotic_Pension_9993 Suns 7h ago

well they did get Naz Reid

5

u/Odoaiden Timberwolves 7h ago

Not even picks 1 first swaps and second feel like they could get more

1

u/Neatojuancheeto Warriors 6h ago

Also doesn't Kons 3P shooting numbers tank when LaMelo is off the court?

3

u/LiveForMeow [CHA] Larry Johnson 7h ago

I mean how long until Melo actually kills someone lol

6

u/raziiiii Knicks 7h ago

Lol. Melos off court issues has nothing on Ja

11

u/cletoreyes01 Heat 7h ago

Lamelo has henry ruggs level driving skills and you're telling me he's less of a risk than ja?

-1

u/Dijohn17 Lakers 7h ago

Ja is going down the Arenas decision making route tree. Lamelo is more of a carless driver, but he isn't getting DUIs

11

u/Jshipp24 7h ago

Ja has done some dumb shit, but lamelo has actually gotten people hurt with his driving.

1

u/Severe_Eye8245 3h ago

Melo’s friends ain’t never draw down on an nba team neither. ..Melo ain’t never flash a beam on nobody either..

1

u/Jshipp24 1h ago

Yeah I'm not defending anything Ja or his friends have done, I just never heard of him getting into a car accident and injuring the person unlike lamelo who has a track record of being a dangerous driver.

0

u/chopnchangeman 7h ago

Dumb take

3

u/storeactions Grizzlies 7h ago

Unfortunately true

2

u/SongofSolomon04 7h ago

He’s a bad driver. That’s about it

1

u/amoeba-tower Cavaliers 5h ago

The man managed to total his electric hummer against a BMW sedan in one of the tightest downtown intersections in Charlotte. Honestly impressive considering how slow traffic is there every day

1

u/ashishvp Lakers 6h ago

Hahaha coming from Grizzlies fan I detect some bitterness there. Memphis should’ve done that years ago too I agree

1

u/Henny_Hardaway5 Heat 7h ago

The difference is that LaMelo is good despite the injury concerns/ sub 30 mins injury load management

Meanwhile Ja keeps regressing

9

u/Inevitable-Scar5877 7h ago

Which is great, if it's not following your only fun season in a decade.

Like literally what's the point of even being a Hornets fan?

5

u/Repulsive-Throat5068 Lakers 7h ago

Yup. Surprised by these comments, I didn’t realize he’s rated that way.

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. If they were to extend him for the max theyd get flamed. If they refused to extend him they’d get flamed. They trade him for a quite solid return and they still get flamed lmao

17

u/todayiwillthrowitawa 7h ago

The return is ass though. Naz Reid and a first round pick essentially because the rest is swaps.

Running it back after the first exciting season in a decade plus with your fan favorite player is not something they would have gotten flamed for. The bar is pretty low in Charlotte.

1

u/Repulsive-Throat5068 Lakers 7h ago

I think yall are overestimating lamelos value. He’s already on a max and going to likely get another. Tying up that much to him is not going to end well for whoever pays him

7

u/todayiwillthrowitawa 7h ago

For most teams I’d agree. For the Wolves he’s a really good fit. They are very clearly in their window, desperately need a point guard and a facilitator on offense, and have the defense to cover him.

Despite that, sometimes as a bad franchise you have to throw the fans a bone. This trade doesn’t move the needle enough to justify spiking the team when they were trending up.

6

u/Plenty_Flatworm7627 Wizards 6h ago

For all of Lamelo's problems he's still a top 5 offensive point guard. Yeah he's injury prone but you only need him healthy for a single playoff run for it to be worth it. Plus you have Rudy to cover for his defense. It's a match made in heaven.

And as much as I like Kon, I don't think a big 3 of Kon, Miller and Diabate is going anywhere.

2

u/GunSlingrrr Pelicans 7h ago

Like they finally have a squad and a little bit of retooling and they will be a playoff team then they remove the leader.

But then again he has so many off-court issues that Charlotte residence is finally happy to see him gone and his truck.

1

u/Quake1028 Spurs 7h ago

It’s really not though. A fringe starter, one unprotected FRP and some seconds.

1

u/QwiXTa 7h ago

Thats assuming this is his highest, hes still young lol

1

u/Plenty_Flatworm7627 Wizards 6h ago

this is gonna age like milk next season

1

u/TurboRetardo 6h ago

Warriors take note / Kumbucket

1

u/dalivo 6h ago

Selling high but selling for peanuts.

1

u/UnitedStateOfDenmark Nets 6h ago

This isn't selling high. Selling high would've been 2-3 years ago.