In a surprising move, the Charlotte Hornets have a deal in place to trade LaMelo Ball, the franchise’s star point guard. The Hornets are set to deal Ball and Josh Green to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Naz Reid, a 2033 first-round pick, three second-round picks and a series of first-round pick swaps, a league source confirmed to The Athletic.The trade is a significant shake-up for a team that has been on the upswing. The Hornets finished 44-38 in the regular season, no small feat for a franchise that has had just one winning season over the last decade. They surged in the second half of the season to make the Eastern Conference’s Play-In Tournament, beating the Miami Heat in an overtime thriller thanks to Ball’s last-second layup. Charlotte was eliminated by the Orlando Magic three days later.
In addition to Reid and the unprotected 2033 first-rounder, the Hornets will receive the Wolves’ 2029, 2032 and 2033 second-round picks and first-round pick swaps in 2028, 2029 and 2030.ESPN first reported the deal.LaMelo Ball's last-second layup leads Hornets past Heat in thrillerThe decision to trade Ball, especially now, comes as a surprise. Ball, 24, averaged 20.1 points and 7.1 assists in 2025-26, his fewest points per game since his rookie season, when he won the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award. He made the All-Star team the next season. That helped him earn a rookie max extension, on which he has three years and approximately $130.7 million remaining.The team has started to reframe itself around Brandon Miller, the No. 2 pick in the 2023 draft, and Kon Knueppel, the narrow runner-up for Rookie of the Year this past season who averaged 18.5 points per game while hitting a rookie record 273 3s.With Ball gone, they’ll each get larger roles, as will Christian Anderson Jr., whom the Hornets took No. 18 in Tuesday’s draft. The deal is the most audacious transaction yet by a relatively new front office that has made several astute, if smaller, choices so far. General Manager Jeff Peterson was hired in the spring of 2024 and chose Charles Lee as the team’s head coach a few months later.Now, they have made a deal large enough to reorient the franchise in a new direction under their guidance. Ball is gone, and the Hornets are moving on without a player long seen as the franchise’s pillar.This story will be updated.
