LaMelo Ball trade grades: Wolves take next step, Hornets reset

The Minnesota Timberwolves are acquiring LaMelo Ball from the Charlotte Hornets in a stunning trade — one nobody saw coming even 24 hours ago. Mere months removed from a special, restorative season in Charlotte, Ball now joins Anthony Edwards to form the most exciting backcourt in the Western Conference.

In return, the Hornets will receive Naz Reid, an unprotected 2033 first-round pick, three first-round pick swaps (2028, 2029, 2030) and three second-round picks (2029, 2032, 2033), per ESPN's Shams Charania. Josh Green will also join Ball in Minnesota.

Timberwolves trade grade: B+

The Wolves are basically unloading the full clip here. Their future draft capital is next to nonexistent. Minnesota won't have a ton of flexibility to build around this new core. But in an increasingly competitive Western Conference, and with Anthony Edwards trade speculation starting to bubble up after the Giannis deal, the Wolves were on the clock to prove their seriousness to their franchise cornerstone.

Ball was selected a couple spots after Edwards in the 2020 NBA Draft, so they are quite literally on the same timeline. And while there is tremendous risk in a trade like this, risk is so often required to accomplish anything of note in this league. You cannot play it safe and hit singles every offseason. Not when Victor Wembanyama's Spurs and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's Thunder exist.

Minnesota has needed an upgrade at point guard for years now. Ayo Dosunmu was sensational down the stretch, but he's probably better cast as the Wolves' new pricy sixth man in place of Reid.

Ball's value is often in the eye of the beholder, but there's a reason Charlotte was the most dominant offensive team in the NBA over the second half of the season. Ball made important strides as a decision-maker and as a defender. He did not cut out every ludicrous, fall-away 3-point attempt. He still got a little too cute with his passes from time to time. But he played with a lot more focus and intention, and better yet, he was healthy for most of the year.

Few NBA point guards can map the floor and control tempo like Ball. The Wolves are going to get out in transition, with Ant on his flank, and absolutely destroy teams. You might question pairing Edwards with a "ball-dominant point guard," but that's really a mischaracterization of Ball.

He doesn't need to pound the rock into oblivion. He's not taking his inspiration from Allen Iverson or Kyrie Irving, at least aesthetically. Ball is great at getting the ball out quickly, relocating into open space and operating as much as a connector as he does a table-setter. That's not to say he cannot or will not create his own offense on occasion, but Ball's rapid-fire processing and free-flowing style could be exactly what the doctor ordered next to a power finisher and knockdown shooter on the wing like Edwards.

This is also a great outcome for Rudy Gobert, who should find himself with a lot more spoon-fed looks at the rim. We also haven't seen LaMelo with defensive personnel of this caliber before. Gobert is a four-time DPOY for a reason. Jaden McDaniels can lock down the difficult perimeter assignments. The Wolves — if healthy — are going to rip.

Hornets trade grade: C+

The Hornets selling high on Ball after his first healthy season in four years is understandable. It was always fair to wonder if Charlotte was going to reach the mountaintop with Ball as their primary engine.

This trade is basically Charlotte betting against the LaMelo era working out in Minnesota. A few years from now, if Edwards gets antsy — or if Gobert collapses and the Wolves' defense shatters — it will be Charlotte that controls more than half of their draft assets. Maybe, if we want to let our galaxy brains take over, this is the Hornets laying the groundwork for an Edwards trade in three years. Charlotte isn't too far from Edwards' hometown of Atlanta, after all.

But it's hard to accept this at face value for Charlotte. The Hornets built up so much positive momentum last season and felt on the verge of a genuine breakthrough for the first time in god knows how long. Ball clearly loved it there. He was a great generative force who empowered Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller.

This Hornets offense is going to take a major step back. Knueppel and Miller are going to find life much more difficult without Ball there to manipulate the defense in their favor. Reid is fun, but the Hornets just drafted Hannes Steinbach in the lottery, on top of starting-caliber centers in Ryan Kalkbrenner and Moussa Diabaté. He's an upgrade over Miles Bridges at the four spot, if that's the route Charlotte decides to take. But Reid, for all his funky scoring and passing in the frontcourt, is not some replacement star.

Is Charlotte tanking again? Is there another move coming down the pipeline? These are all fair questions. The Hornets have an incredible collection of movable assets and the ability to bid high on whichever superstar hits the market next. Then again, it's Charlotte; how many stars are eyeing this team as a long-term home? The Hornets built this thing slowly through the draft, which will be harder as a good-not-great team. Lottery reform gives them a path to NBA Draft luck, but that is simply not a bankable strategy.

Knueppel and Miller are still excellent. The Hornets are well-coached and Charlotte should keep its hard above water in the Play-In Race, if nothing else. This trade kills their momentum, though, and raises more questions than answers about what comes next.

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