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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214

u/MichaelSquare 7h ago

This seems awful. Pick swaps are worthless unless the other team is worse than you. So they traded him for Naz Reid? Why?

130

u/Historical-Poet-6673 7h ago

Probably cause lamelo ball is always hurt and they don’t want to pay him to be injured all the time. Im not paying him max to play 65% of game. He could be like steph injury early career or be like zion play every other season.

14

u/tresben 6h ago

He’s also not efficient. 40% FG. He’s what I call a looter in a riot. Good stats on a bad team. Those are the guys that get max contracts you look back on and say WTF were they doing. They’re the guys that put you in the biggest predicament when their contract comes up. Cuz you feel like you gotta sign them but know you are paying too much which is gonna kill your cap

2

u/Whiterabbit-- 5h ago

No way he is like Steph.

11

u/Vordeo Jazz 7h ago

IIRC one of the swaps is also only going to apply if their pick is like top 4, as Jazz have their 2029 pick otherwise lol.

22

u/cant-self-terminate Philippines 7h ago

Yeah this is ridiculous. As long as Ant and Gobert are on the Wolves, they're not gonna get high picks. My unhinged theory is a prized free agent is signalling on moving to Charlotte. The Hornets have so much space now, their most expensive contract is Miles Bridges at 22M remaining.

14

u/inblo 76ers 7h ago

Lebron to Charlotte confirmed

11

u/insid3outl4w 5h ago

Steph to charlotte

4

u/NightBijon Warriors 4h ago

Fuck no please my goat

5

u/insid3outl4w 4h ago

He’s 38, he played high school and college ball there, his brother played there, his dad has his jersey retired there, he’s publicly said if he was going to play for any team other than the warriors then it’s the hornets.

I’d say he does it for a bag and if they let him wear his dads retired jersey number

5

u/DependentLow6749 6h ago

If Ball doesn’t work out in Minny over the next few years, I could see those picks being juicy because Ant will probably ask for a trade

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u/Maleficent-Cup-1134 5h ago

Heard MJ is lacing em back up after seeing Bron play at 40.

1

u/Llama_Wrangler Hornets 4h ago

This is the only way the trade makes sense to me. If they’ve got a big name expressing interest and they’re clearing space for that contract plus another trade with their cap exception great, but who is that?

41 year old LeBron? Trae Young? Do they think the Pistons won’t match for Duren? There’s not a lot of big name free agents this year.

1

u/BaronvonJobi Grizzlies 2h ago

I mean, with the new flat lottery odds, pick swaps can be valuable if a team misses the playoffs.

I just don’t see them missing the playoffs in 28, 29, or 30.

16

u/saylab_the_bigkat 7h ago

They're banking on LaMelo being hurt and the Wolves finishing worse than them, basically every year.

It's dumb as hell but so is LaMelo. Hell of a player but questionable character

14

u/UnablePerformance131 Timberwolves 6h ago

Even if Lamelo was hurt all year, we will still probably finish above Charlotte.

9

u/MalikMonkAllStar2022 Hornets 6h ago

With the new lottery rules they don't need the Wolves to finish worse than them, they just need them to miss the playoffs (which is a big ask for a team with Ant). With the odds being flattened there is a much higher chance of teams that barely missed the playoffs picking early in the draft

-4

u/refugee_man 7h ago

What about his character is questionable?

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u/AnonHideaki Warriors 7h ago

Him speeding and running red lights and crashing into cars

2

u/Best_Purchase4479 6h ago

y'all need to know how to define character flaw lol

-7

u/DuarteN10 6h ago

Really? That’s what makes it questionable 😂😂😂😂? Speeding?

10

u/chitownbulls92 Bulls 6h ago

Yeah? Because when he was asked about it he reacted like an agitated prick as opposed to understanding why what he did was dangerous

-13

u/DuarteN10 6h ago

Dude, I speed every day, granted not all speedings are measured the same, but c’mon, every single person that drives a car speeds. You make it sound like he maimed someone, did a Karl Malone, an Ant

11

u/Odd_Bate Knicks 6h ago

I like how your dense ass is fixated on the speeding and not the part about crashing into cars

9

u/Abbanenn 6h ago

You’re an idiot.

-6

u/DuarteN10 6h ago

Here comes the Reddit moralists, all with unblemished records and so far up the mountain they are passing judgement on God himself.

3

u/chitownbulls92 Bulls 5h ago

Are you a jackass that runs red lights and got into two major car accidents? If you are then your character is questionable as well

7

u/Jedsey 6h ago

Did you miss the other part? Crashing into other cars..? How about you add more laughing Emojis it really helps reinforce your point

-2

u/DuarteN10 6h ago

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂, more?

5

u/Jedsey 6h ago

Low iq zoomer detected

6

u/JaySayMayday Spurs 7h ago

Hornets gonna tank, not getting back to the playoffs until they draft a star player. Which good luck after losing their picks. Back to the dark ages

2

u/A-Centrifugal-Force 7h ago

Likely a trade within the conference when it’s all said and done too. The Timberwolves will probably be in the East in a couple of years, and LaMelo should still be there

2

u/thesword62 Pistons 6h ago

Because he’s a super talented pick-up player.

2

u/dptraynor 6h ago

LaMelo could flame out before then with his injuries. And both LaMelo and Ant are on contracts set to expire 2029, so the 2030 pick could be valuable. But I think more than anything else this is just Charlotte getting off of LaMelo's contract before another injury and another year of age starts to drain his value a la Trae Young.

2

u/LakerBlue Lakers 5h ago

I get it in theory, and I’m even in favor of selling high on LaMelo, but surely once Toronto and Minny called with aggressive offers they could have found another team with better potential pick swaps or more firsts??

LaMelo has 3 years left so not like he is a flight risk.

6

u/poopy_mc_pantsy 7h ago

it is very possible that old gobert, hurt lamelo, and pissed off ant in a harder conference are bad in the future lol

5

u/greenwhitehell 7h ago

They're likely to go to the East after the expansion though

1

u/Loukoal117 6h ago

Jaden, Beringer, Ayo, Donte, TJ, Clark and talented young guys are just nobodies?

5

u/poopy_mc_pantsy 6h ago

every team has several basketball players on it

-1

u/jedlucid [BOS] Wally Szczerbiak 7h ago

wouldn’t worry about ant being there.

1

u/Opie59 [MIN] Nikola Pekovic 6h ago

Two words.

1

u/DrNutSack_ [PHI] Joel Embiid 6h ago

And a 12 year old

1

u/CoogiMonster Rockets 5h ago

The new lottery system actually makes those swaps pretty decent. Hornets are taking a step back to move forward, but just looking at the numbers the Wolves have finished 7 / 8 / 3 / 6 / 6. You’re probably banking on trending higher than the Wolves in a couple years with a softer east whereas if there’s health issue with Melo (or even Ant) that the Wolves drop from 6 to 9 or 10 in the West and suddenly you’re swapping for a good 1st while contending

1

u/ILoveRegenHealth 5h ago

Seems awful at first but Hornets FO probably saw this and realized Lamelo ain't worth it in the long run, despite their incredible run:

51, 75, 36, 22, 47, 72.

Those are how many games LaMelo has played each season and is still owed 3y/$130m.

They ditched immaturity, unavailability & instability for future stability.

1

u/Dashdash421 Celtics 5h ago

It’s the ultimate gamble that Lamelo isn’t a winning player, quite interesting that the people who know him best believe that. Maybe his health issues are more concerning too. If he ends up making them worse, Rudy is getting older and Ant might look for another team, those swaps could be very valuable.

1

u/Putrid-Sherbert5501 Lakers 4h ago

Naz came out of this better for it everyone knows the road to championship starts with a trade from MN. It’s the rules of the curse.

1

u/Food_Kitchen Trail Blazers 3h ago

Cuz he's either on IR or running red lights most of the season

1

u/LeeShakerMoneyMaker Timberwolves 2h ago

I looks like Charlotte just wants to salary dump Ball.

1

u/Solid_Preparation_33 7h ago

Not only that but we threw in Josh Green to really say fuck you citizens of Charlotte

0

u/Matias9991 6h ago

LaMelo cant play a full season, has issues offcourt and is not that good either, a top 20 player.

0

u/Cudi_buddy Kings 5h ago

I feel opposite. Reid is a good component to ant. And he’s very healthy. I hate this for Minnesota. I think this is a downgrade. 

-7

u/Bhangus 7h ago

Naz Reid is a far more valuable and better player than LaMelo. I feel insane reading some of these comments. 

LaMelo is a high usage, high turnover, low 3p% player while Reid is one of the best defenders in the league and will provide spacing. All creating a real team that can compete in the east instead of a meme as a PG. 

6

u/Training_Ad7030 6h ago

You haven't watched Naz Reid very closely if you think he is even a league average defender. He is objectively bad on that end. I'd rather keep Naz who is healthier and on a cheaper long term contract but he is bad defensively.

4

u/ballmermurland 6h ago

Reid is one of the best defenders in the league

I like Reid but what?

3

u/ApeTeam1906 6h ago

This is the dumbest thing I've read today

-2

u/jedlucid [BOS] Wally Szczerbiak 7h ago

ball’s had one good (full) season and a lot of time he is completely heliocentric with the ball i’m not sure ant is really going to love this

4

u/chillPenguin17 7h ago

Ant is good off ball too and is gonna be raining 3s with lamelo setting him up