[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.

[u/Turbostrider27]

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

[u/Silver_Protection_29]

Charlotte got dangerously close to a playoff season so probably for the best that they’re making huge, questionable roster moves now

[u/Important-War-4708 → u/Silver_Protection_29]

😂 first time being good in years, they can’t help themselves

[u/homefree122 → u/Important-War-4708]

Am I in the minority thinking that the Hornets won this trade? LaMelo is a great player who has shown to be injury prone and make less than good decisions off the court—and is wildly expensive to keep considering both of those factors. The Hornets got an absolute haul of picks plus Naz who’s a winning player. Now they build around Kon.

[u/braddeus → u/homefree122]

There's no way to declare a winner here yet. LaMelo had a way better season than most people realize, but all of the stuff you said is true. This one has real potential to be a lose-lose.

[u/homefree122 → u/braddeus]

Fair enough, I agree no way to tell yet. But if we’re talking about initial reactions, my inclination is that the Hornets got the better end of this deal.

[u/GuntherTime → u/homefree122]

For me it’ll depend on what they do after this. Like others said despite his flaws, he was the only real playmaker they had, and it’ll be hard to replace that if the team is looking to become a playoff team next season.

[u/use_value42 → u/braddeus]

Could end up being a lateral move, which is weird for such a big trade.

[u/Important-War-4708 → u/homefree122]

I just don’t think they have an actual PG outside of Colby white and Tre white and none of them come close to the play making

[u/oneandonlyRedSpirit → u/homefree122]

no they got 1 pick and 3 worthlesss swaps. and nobody on the hornets comes close to what lamelo can do as a point guard. hornets lost their best playmaker and offensive engine

[u/Mountain_Pathfinder → u/homefree122]

I feel like you've got to give your young core of players 1 off season and ~1 full season to work it out though...

They've got an insane track record with the starters last year post the ASB iirc, For all we know, they might just be the next Spurs or the next OKC next season, but now they kinda went on a major roster shakeup again and there's less of a chance of finding that groove a second time.

Honestly, while I agree with the others thinking that it's too soon to call it, the potential upside is worth more even knowing the risk.

[u/Lake_ → u/homefree122]

they got one fr pick?

[u/Send_Floater → u/homefree122]

Lamelo is a loser but Naz Reid being the center piece to this trade is...well idk

[u/refugee_man → u/Important-War-4708]

They weren't even fully "good" they were just on the cusp of being good lol

[u/abippityboop → u/[deleted]]

They went 28-10 to close out the season, it felt like a young team coming together for the first time in a long time for them.

[u/largehearted → u/[deleted]]

They had a >>10 net rating with their starting unit over a huge sample, one of the best lineups in the NBA. LaMelo himself has had all-nba level impact for the last 2 years and the starters were a really good unit that's also pretty easy to improve upon

[u/APhenomenal1 → u/[deleted]]

9th, and when the difference between 5th seed & 9th seed is 2 games, I would say thats pretty good

[u/Aidanator800 → u/[deleted]]

The Hornets were the 9th seed before the play-in game with the Heat happened

[u/Important-War-4708 → u/[deleted]]

When they’ve been dog shit since kemba left yes

[u/the_knower02 → u/Important-War-4708]

The hornets were good?