When the Charlotte Hornets were in the middle of their dreary 4-14 start last season, rumors swirled that LaMelo Ball was open to a trade. We know what happened next. The Hornets underwent one of the more dramatic midseason turnarounds in NBA history. They had the NBA’s best offense once the calendar flipped to 2026, and ultimately came one Play-In Tournament game short of the playoffs. The offensive core of Ball, Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller, all below the age of 25, appeared to be the future in Charlotte.
Well, maybe not. According to ESPN, the Hornets are engaged in trade talks with multiple teams for Ball. According to Jake Fischer and Marc Stein, two teams in pursuit are the Minnesota Timberwolves and Toronto Raptors. Considering the season Ball just had, it’s hard to imagine more teams won’t jump into the fray.
For now, there is no substantial reporting as to why the Hornets are shopping Ball, but it’s not especially difficult to surmise. Ball has dealt with persistent ankle injuries throughout his career. He played in 72 games last season, but only 105 in the three seasons prior. He has three years left on his max rookie extension and will become extension-eligible in July. His next deal would kick in alongside Knueppel’s eventual rookie extension. Having traded for Coby White at the deadline and with Texas Tech’s Christian Anderson selected at No. 18 (a pick we graded a B+), the Hornets have other point guards they can rely on next season. With Brandon Miller presumably getting paid this offseason, it seems as though Charlotte sees an opportunity to sell high on a risky, long-term bet.
Ball reportedly wants to remain in Charlotte. Small-market teams rarely want to give away young stars when they aren’t itching to leave. That makes this one of the more aggressive, surprise trade sweepstakes in recent NBA history. So let’s dig into the market. Which teams make sense for Ball? Five come to mind immediately.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Charlotte is going to ask for Jaden McDaniels. Minnesota is going to say no. Come on. If they’re keeping him out of Giannis Antetokounmpo offers, they’re keeping him out of Ball offers. Now that that’s settled, we can get serious.
Minnesota’s preferred path here would probably be to center a trade around Rudy Gobert and the team’s 2033 first-round pick. The Timberwolves could obviously use size and defense. Gobert made sense for them in a world in which they kept Ball. Trading Ball for someone nine years older than him is going to be a very, very tough sell. The end of Gobert’s prime is near. By the time the Hornets have figured out the rest of their roster, Gobert will probably be in a different stage of his career.
Naz Reid is more aligned with Charlotte’s timeline, and his shooting obviously fits quite well on a team that loves to fire away from deep. But the Timberwolves just traded Julius Randle ostensibly to open a starting job for Reid. What would the plan be at power forward if Reid is the centerpiece of this trade? Fischer revealed that Minnesota would “prefer” not to trade Reid.
The Timberwolves have one of the NBA’s most aggressive front offices. They’re the sort of team that would roll the dice on Ball’s health. But constructing the trade is going to require them to part with someone they’re attached to, convince the Hornets to take someone who isn’t on their timeline, or rope in a third team that makes a bit more sense here. No matter where they fall, this is going to be a tricky trade to pull off.
Toronto Raptors
Toronto’s fit is probably the cleanest of anyone’s. The Raptors ranked 25th in the NBA in 3-point attempt rate, but had a top-five defense. They need the shots Ball creates, and they have the tools to protect him defensively. This team is full of athletic guards and wings who would thrive in transition with Ball. Scottie Barnes has grown by leaps and bounds as a creator, and he excelled as a functional point guard for Toronto in the playoffs. Ball is comfortable enough as a catch-and-shooter that he’d be fine functioning off of Barnes, yet he’d also be the best creator Barnes has ever played with.
Charlotte will probably start conversations with last year’s No. 9 overall pick, Collin Murray-Boyles. Would the Raptors put him on the table? He’s exactly the sort of versatile, defensive forward the Hornets are going to need moving forward, but he’s also an ideal Ball teammate. If he’s not on the table, the package almost has to be picks-based. The Raptors control all of their own future draft capital. This is doable.
But the major impediment here is salary. Most of Toronto’s money is bad. Charlotte probably wouldn’t be too eager to take on, say, Immanuel Quickley at $32.5 million per year. Jakob Poeltl could play for them, but he has one of the NBA’s worst contracts (his three-year, $84 million deal kicks in at the start of the 2027-28 season). Never say never for the right package of assets, and it helps that RJ Barrett is at least on an expiring deal himself, but if the Hornets are taking on bad money here, they’re probably going to ask for the moon.
Portland Trail Blazers
Many of the basic Toronto principles apply to Portland. The Blazers take a ton of 3s, ranking third in the NBA in 3-point attempt rate, but they made the third-lowest percentage of any team in the NBA. Shooting is a problem here. Deni Avdija took a massive leap last season as the NBA’s Most Improved Player, and his ability to get to the rim would pair nicely with Ball’s shooting. Portland has the defenders to protect Ball on that end of the floor. Avdija was far better in that respect before he had to carry the burden of Portland’s entire offense.
The elephant in the room here is that everything I just wrote about Ball also applies to Damian Lillard, who’s set to return from his torn Achilles next season. How invested is Portland in its soon-to-be-36-year-old icon? It’s not as though the Blazers could simply trade Lillard to make room for Ball. He has a no-trade clause. Is there anywhere he’d want to go? Ironically, the obvious fit would be the same Miami Heat team that tried and failed to trade for Lillard three years ago. Moving forward with Lillard is the safe play. It doesn’t cost assets. It doesn’t require a max contract.
The Blazers probably have to look at Ball as a possible franchise-changer to consider this. If they do, they have the assets to put together any number of potentially interesting packages. They’re loaded with draft capital thanks to the picks the Bucks sent them for Lillard three years ago. Charlotte would probably love Toumani Camara or Donovan Clingan, but their defense would be needed next to Ball in Portland. Maybe the Hornets revisit Scoot Henderson after considering him at No. 2 in the 2023 NBA Draft? The bulk of the matching money could come from Jerami Grant. They’d need resolution on the Lillard question before they could do this. They’d either have to believe they could play together, Lillard would have to be comfortable in a smaller role, or Lillard would have to agree to a trade. If that hurdle can be cleared, Portland makes plenty of sense.
Detroit Pistons
The Pistons are apparently about to go big-game hunting, according to ESPN. They just cleared out some extra cap flexibility by trading Isaiah Stewart to the Grizzlies, and now they’re getting linked to every shot-creator under the sun. LeBron James. Kawhi Leonard. More modesty, Tyler Herro and Norman Powell. They were seemingly ready to pursue Austin Reaves before he re-signed with the Lakers. Can we toss Ball’s name onto that list?
Isaiah Stewart trade grades: Pistons get important cap space, Grizzlies get valuable backup big
Sam Quinn
The two things Charlotte needs are a long-term center and a long-term wing defender. Well, the Pistons have Ausar Thompson and Jalen Duren (headed into restricted free agency), and having those two non-shooters together posed major offensive issues in the playoffs. For now, the goal appears to be bolstering the offense around them rather than breaking them up. If they have interest in Ball, Charlotte will surely ask them to reconsider.
If and probably when they refuse, things get tougher… but not necessarily impossible. Detroit controls all of its own picks moving forward. It has former No. 5 overall pick Ron Holland, who wasn’t in the playoff rotation in part because, like Thompson, he is a non-center who can’t shoot. Maybe playing with all of Charlotte’s shooting is exactly what he would need to take a major step. The real issue here for Detroit is money. Ball is on a max contract. So is Cade Cunningham. Duren is getting paid this summer, and Thompson is extension-eligible. If you’re paying four players this much, you’re not going to have much room for depth beyond them. The Pistons would have to be sure about the fit if they pulled this trigger.
Milwaukee Bucks
While the Bucks got a big package of assets for Giannis Antetokounmpo, the one thing they didn’t get back was a franchise centerpiece. The Bucks have no easy way of finding that cornerstone without control over their own first-round picks. Recruiting stars in that market is no easy task. If the Bucks are going to get a new face for their franchise, they’re either going to have to develop one internally or they’re going to have to take a swing on a riskier external addition.
Ball would be that sort of high-risk, high-reward play. He has three years left on his deal, so the Bucks would have time to sell him on a possible future in Milwaukee. He’ll even become extension-eligible, so if the Bucks needed to get him on board with Milwaukee, they could try to incentivize him financially. The Bucks have reportedly already registered interest.
The Hornets just picked No. 14 and No. 18 in the first round of the draft on Tuesday. That probably means they scouted the players Milwaukee took at No. 10 and No. 13, Brayden Burries and Nate Ament, pretty extensively. Either could be fits in a trade. So could Kel’El Ware, the high-upside young big that Miami sent to Milwaukee in the Antetokounmpo deal. Tyler Herro could even be a short-term replacement for Ball in Charlotte while the Hornets figure out their long-term plan. The Bucks may not have their own picks, but they got several from Miami. There are multiple pathways to a deal here.
