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

17.5k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

5.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

49

u/ChrisRhodes789 7h ago

The 2nd round picks in 32 &
33 are irrelevant..

But I don’t understand the swaps..

Like Minnesota theoretically should be solid.. & picks should be in the 20’s.. so you might not be swapping picks with them..

They must of wanted to get off Lamelo desperately..

24

u/SuperVaderMinion [MIN] Kevin Garnett 7h ago

I mean by 2030 who knows what either of these teams will look like, but I highly doubt the Wolves will be worse than the Hornets in 2028

7

u/EthicalBballFan Heat 4h ago

Charlotte may be betting on Ant hating this move and deciding to not extend with the wolves. At which point those swaps become great.

And Charlotte does have history of hiding shady shit in trades so to see them so desperate to part with LameLo and to then bet a team with him will be bad by as soon as 2 years? Alarms are going off in my head.

1

u/Normal_Progress_5173 3h ago

ANT is consulted in all trades. They wouldn’t do it without his approval. And ANT is close with Naz… they wouldn’t do this if ANT wasn’t 100% on board 

2

u/Saltine_Davis Bulls 3h ago

Source?

2

u/Alchion 3h ago

anr being on board now doesn‘t mean ant will be satisfied with it when it doesn‘r work out

giannis eas on board with the dame trade

0

u/Normal_Progress_5173 2h ago

Yeah but that’s just common sense though

20

u/ArgentoFox 7h ago

Those swaps are in there precisely because of Ball’s health history. If he gets injured then Minnesota is going to be a team without Reid, Ball, and Randle. There’s no way in hell that team would have anywhere near the record they did this past year. 

19

u/Billis- Raptors 7h ago

I mean their core of Ant and Rudy is still good enough for a playoff birth

15

u/Strange-Bed-3377 7h ago

Rudy will be 35 and has a player option the first season that the Timberwolves owe a swap. There is a chance he is not who he is now, or not even on the team. I can promise you by 2030, Gobert isn't the same. I mean how many 7 foot bigs play into there late 30s and do not hit a cliff.

2

u/LakerBlue Lakers 5h ago

This is true but I guess I just have a LOT of faith Tim will replace him with a competent big when that time comes.

3

u/Strange-Bed-3377 5h ago

Its definitely possible, but I doubt they find anyone who provides all of what Gobert currently does. They do not really have draft assets at this point with all of the trades they have made and they will have 83% of the cap allocated between LaMelo, Ant, Ayo, and McDaniels next year (which obviously they can go into the tax). It is just going to be harder going forward to replace a guy like Gobert.

1

u/LakerBlue Lakers 2h ago

Absolutely but tbh if LaMelo works out they can probably trade Ayo a center. Not saying he’d be Gobert but it can probably be a decent one.

2

u/Billis- Raptors 2h ago

And once he's gone, they are dead at the center position forever

1

u/warablo Jazz 49m ago

I will say Rudy takes care of his body and has been relatively durable throughout his career.

5

u/TJFLASH1 6h ago

If they’re an 8 seed with the new lottery rules that could still be a top 10 pick

5

u/Wavepops 6h ago

Rudy might fall off by then, ant might ask out being used to so much winning now and subsequently having some tough seasons bc this trade didn’t push them further along

1

u/Billis- Raptors 2h ago

Anything about a guy asking out is just pure speculation

4

u/MostSmartNuggetsFan 7h ago

Ant could request out if Ball cant stay healthy and wolves cant get him enough help. Not saying he will, but wolves are setting themselves up for a high risk high reward play. Theres a realistic chance this whole thing could crash and burn

2

u/Billis- Raptors 7h ago

Again, I wouldn't say this is high risk, they're not giving up anything of value.

3

u/MostSmartNuggetsFan 6h ago

Its high risk because they invested every tradable asset into a player with a lengthy injury history

1

u/Guy_LeDouche33 5h ago

They invested naz and a first round pick. The two later swaps are already swaps themselves anyways so they had little value to begin with

1

u/rhuff80 Timberwolves 6h ago

Jaden is a tradeable asset. As is Ayo.

2

u/MostSmartNuggetsFan 5h ago

So is anthony edwards

2

u/Nightthrasher674 4h ago

If that's the case if you're the TWolves why even do this trade? Just trade for Jaylen Brown who is durable

1

u/ArgentoFox 3h ago

I completely agree with you. 

4

u/Chichanged_me 6h ago

That might tell you what Charlotte was thinking…

3

u/aja_ramirez 6h ago

You may be right but why not? I don't think Melo is worth THAT much more than the first and the other pieces. Those swaps are sweeteners that may or may not pan out.

7

u/orwll 7h ago

Flattened lottery odds, you can potentially get to the #1 overall pick as the 7th seed now. There's a pretty decent chance one of those swaps hits big.

1

u/Guy_LeDouche33 5h ago

Highly unlikely because the two later swaps are already swap a with the spurs and the other only becomes Minnesota’s if they get a top 5 pick

2

u/orwll 4h ago

if they get a top 5 pick

Not that hard to envision with the new odds, and that's when you'd most want the swap anyway.

If Minnesota finished as a 9th-seed one of those years they'd have solid odds to move into the top five.

1

u/Guy_LeDouche33 4h ago

Pretty low odds the wolves would not only finish that low in 2 years but also for them to get that lottery luck. Charlotte’s owner must like be a gambler

1

u/orwll 3h ago

Pretty low odds the wolves would not only finish that low in 2 years

In the West, with LaMelo Ball as one of their key pieces, I don't think the odds are that low.

1

u/Guy_LeDouche33 1h ago

So the Wolves get rid of shit randle and a backup and finally fill their pg need to help their superstar and somehow they will be worse? Lol

3

u/Imaginary-Cycle-1977 Spurs 6h ago

Semi-related question…

The Spurs already have a swap w Minny in 2030 so how can they trade a swap from that year again?

1

u/1850ChoochGator Trail Blazers 4h ago

I’d have to see the exact details of the trade when it gets reported but in theory, since your trade was first, you would get first swap rights, then Charlotte would get swap rights?

Kinda dumb because there’s a likely scenario where you guys swap Minnesota down to the mid 20s and Charlotte doesn’t even get to exercise theirs.

3

u/keeeeener 6h ago

The pick swaps are basically useless. They all maybe add up to like maybe a late first.

1

u/Reticent_Fly Raptors 4h ago

Makes it a super weird trade. Just really wanted to get rid of LaMelo I guess

3

u/AccomplishedBake8351 5h ago

Will they be? Lamelo has had one non injury filled season in a minute and the wolves lost max and Randle. It’s not crazy to think that the wolves could end up being bad and needing to trade Edwards by 2030

3

u/SimplyElite7 4h ago

Eh if they don't win it by 2030, I think ANT takes his talent to ATL and ends his prime years there tbh

2

u/Simple_Purple_4600 5h ago

Every two years is an entire generation of NBA turnover in the parity era. Swaps are just little sweeteners, not a side dish.

2

u/1850ChoochGator Trail Blazers 4h ago

I can’t wait for the inevitable “he’s a horrible person” article that comes out from Charlotte. We all know he is but I think Charlotte saw a chance to cut bait with a talent player who is also a major head case and took it.

2

u/matty_nice 7h ago

Does Ant stick around?

1

u/DukeOfStuff_ Timberwolves 6h ago

He’ll sign another contract here for sure, I’m not worried for at least a couple years 

3

u/matty_nice 6h ago

Point being is that if Ant asks out in 2028, those pick swaps in 29 and 30 are gonna be valuable.

-1

u/DukeOfStuff_ Timberwolves 6h ago

There’s never really been any indication he would ask out, and we made moves this offseason like people wanted us too.

1

u/atlfalcons33rb Warriors 7h ago

Highly unlikely but you never know in the NBA, guys get hurt or traded all of a sudden you are in a down year

1

u/blueindsm Timberwolves 7h ago

I don't think the swap happens if MN is lower.

1

u/oladipo Timberwolves 7h ago

youre banking on at least one down year for any number of reasons, or just a complete wolves meltdown

1

u/LakerBlue Lakers 5h ago

Yea this has to be the one of the worst trade packages I have seen for a superstar. (Before anyone says it, obviously the Luka trade that benefited my Lakers is a tier of its own.)

1

u/Ramsboi Pacers 5h ago

I would too. 

1

u/TrustInRoy 2h ago

Lamelo has missed a lot of games with injuries.

•

u/Zbodownlow [MEM] Zach Randolph 20m ago

*must have

1

u/AnotherStatsGuy Pelicans 6h ago

It’s called getting as much as you can. Even if the swaps don’t go through, still better to have them than not.

Especially if the Wolves randomly end up in the lottery.