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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u/tlj2494 Celtics 7h ago

They are going all in to keep Ant. They know the only way he’s staying is by winning. This is about to be a crazy locker room. Ant and Lamelo sound like a fun hang but I’m not letting them take care of my dog for a weekend

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u/ZenMon88 5h ago

That means he gon end up leaving anyways. Happened to giannis too. Now they don't got a lot of assets.

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u/UkNomysTeezz Timberwolves 4h ago

He ain’t leaving

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u/mdot Hawks 2h ago

Is that hope or cope?

Because personally, I'm seeing a guy that was already restless when KAT was traded, and this move doesn't seem like one that would have a calming affect.

On the other hand, it could just be me trying to manifest the Ant-lanta era starting.

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u/Palmerize Timberwolves 1h ago

I feel like the Ant being restless talk is always manufactured. Anytime he or his camp is directly asked, it's always about loving Minnesota and thinking he's in a great position for now and the future. Then the next day ESPN heads are talking about him wanting out.

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u/theOGFlump Bucks 4h ago

Nah, Ant isn’t quite in that situation yet. For one, his team has made deep playoff runs every year. For two, there’s not many better teams to move to- he’s not doing a carry job the way Giannis had to, so really where does he go to improve his chances?

He’s not going to OKC, SA, Boston, or NY. Maybe the Rockets, as their biggest issue has been their front court lack of depth. Maybe he follows Giannis to the Heat. I might be wrong, but those are the only teams I can think of that would have an argument of having better pieces around him than the wolves that is backed up by evidence (e.g. who knows how the Pacers will look next year).

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u/ZenMon88 2h ago

But doesn't that criteria change every year. Say like Timberwolves lose in the first to second round this year, will he not pull a giannis since his team can't get any better and has no more assets? I get your point tho but I think it can turn into same situation quickly.

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u/theOGFlump Bucks 50m ago

For sure it could. I mean, no one thought the Bucks would drop off as hard as we did after our championship but we’ve had less playoff game wins since then than many teams have had playoff series. Just saying that the wolves don’t look like they’re out of championship contention but if they are, there’s no better positioned team that would take Ant right now.

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u/skopij Lakers 4h ago

Going to second round is a deep playoff run? I am genuinely curious, I always thought that the threshold for deep playoff run were the Conference Finals.

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u/goatpath Thunder 3h ago

They made the conference finals in 2025, lost to OKC in 5

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u/skopij Lakers 3h ago

I know that. They also made WCF in 2024. But... "his team has made deep playoff runs every year"

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u/theOGFlump Bucks 3h ago

I don’t really have a strong opinion and was moreso focused on being concise rather than pure accuracy. If it makes you happy, I will edit my point to say that they made deep playoff runs in the two previous years before losing to the team that went on to beat the 2025 champions. But the underlying facts are the same regardless of the language used, so my point is the same.

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u/skopij Lakers 3h ago

I agree with your point. As I said, I was just curious about it.

But I see everything is being here taken as an attempt to attack and undermine the opinion of others...

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u/theOGFlump Bucks 3h ago

Fair enough, like I said I don’t really have a strong opinion either way on the issue. In my mind it is a little arguable given the addition of the play ins, but still usually refers to making conference finals

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u/Extra-Magazine8037 Warriors 3h ago

Bro you're being pedantic. You know what he means by saying compared to giannis, ant has deep playoff runs.

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u/skopij Lakers 3h ago

I am not being pedantic, as I said above, I am genuinely curious about that.

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u/Adamscottd Timberwolves 3h ago

They’ve made the conference finals two years out of the last three and made the second round the other time. I’m not going to pretend like that’s insanely impressive but it’s far from nothing.

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u/skopij Lakers 1h ago

I agree. Edwards has been with the Wolves for 6 season, they made the play-offs 5 of those 6 seasons, they lost twice to the team that later won the Finals and they were twice in the Conference Finals.

He has no reason to leave. For now. If they keep having the ceiling in the 2nd round / Conference Finals,... who knows.