Hornets To Trade LaMelo Ball To Timberwolves

In return, the Hornets will acquire big man Naz Reid, the Timberwolves’ unprotected 2033 first-round pick, three first-round pick swaps (2028, 2029, and 2030), and three second-round picks (2029, 2032, and 2033), sources tell Charania.

The deal figures to be folded into the Timberwolves’ Julius Randle trade involving the Nets and Bulls for salary-matching purposes, in which case it will be completed after the new league year begins in July.

Ball, the NBA’s 2021 Rookie of the Year and an All-Star in 2022, had trouble staying on the court from 2022-25 — he appeared in just 105 total regular season games across those three seasons as he dealt with recurring ankle injuries. However, he stayed healthy in 2025/26, appearing in 72 games and averaging 20.1 points, 7.1 assists, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.2 steals in 28.0 minutes per contest as he led Charlotte to a 28-10 finish and a play-in berth.

Based on Ball’s strong season and the Hornets’ return to competitiveness, it came as a bit of a surprise when multiple reports indicated late on Wednesday night that the team was engaged in trade talks involving the 24-year-old point guard and might make a deal as soon as this week. Those reports indicated that Ball was happy in Charlotte and that the Hornets hadn’t been actively shopping him, but multiple teams – including Minnesota and the Raptors – were said to be aggressively pursuing him.

Between sending out Randle along with fan favorite Reid and acquiring Ball, Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly, who has a reputation for star hunting and being willing to take big swings, is massively overhauling his roster following a disappointing second-round playoff exit this spring.

According to Jon Krawczynski and Sam Amick of The Athletic, both Connelly and head coach Chris Finch have “long admired” Ball’s game and think that his passing ability and his high-volume three-point shooting will make him a natural fit next to Edwards.

In acquiring Ball, the Timberwolves will be pairing the first and third overall picks from the 2020 draft and will be addressing a point guard position that was somewhat problematic during the 2025/26 season. With 38-year-old Mike Conley taking on a reduced role and 2024 lottery pick Rob Dillingham not developing like the Wolves had hoped, Donte DiVincenzo was the club’s starting point guard for most of the season, despite it not being his natural position. DiVincenzo suffered a torn Achilles during the playoffs and is expected to miss most or all of 2026/27.

While they’re losing some frontcourt depth by trading Randle and Reid, the Timberwolves will have a loaded backcourt headlined by Ball, Edwards, and Ayo Dosunmu, who agreed earlier this week to a five-year, $112MM deal to remain in Minnesota. They’ll also still have center Rudy Gobert anchoring their defense, with wing Jaden McDaniels, who was reportedly considered off limits in the Ball trade talks, poised to take on a larger role.

The Wolves will technically save a little money by swapping out Randle and Reid, who will earn a combined $56.6MM in 2026/27, for Ball and Green ($55.9MM, assuming Ball doesn’t waive his trade kicker), but re-signing Dosunmu should ensure that they’re once again operating in luxury-tax territory. It’ll be the third straight year that Minnesota is in the tax, notes Charania (Twitter link).

Aggregating Randle and Reid to acquire Ball means that the Wolves will face a second-apron hard cap in 2026/27 and won’t generate the $33.3MM traded player exception they were expected to in the previous version of their Randle deal.

Reid has four seasons and $103.4MM left on the five-year contract he signed with the Timberwolves last summer, while Ball has three seasons and $130.7MM left on his five-year, maximum-salary deal. Green will be on an expiring $14.7MM contract.

As for the Hornets, they’ll create significant cap savings in the trade by sending out $55.4MM in salaries and only taking back Reid and his $23.3MM cap hit. Assuming no additional pieces get added to the deal by the time it’s officially finalized, Charlotte will create a monster $40.8MM traded player exception, the largest TPE in league history, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).

That extra cap flexibility will be useful as the team looks to re-sign free agent guard Coby White, who is among the Pistons‘ targets, per Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link).

The Hornets are now poised to build around Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel going forward. Both players are still on their rookie scale contracts, though Miller becomes extension-eligible in July. Reid will join the core and give Charlotte an element of frontcourt shooting that last season’s roster lacked.

A career 37.1% three-point shooter, Reid has made at least 2.1 threes per game in each of the past three seasons. That figure would have placed him fourth on the 2025/26 Hornets behind only Ball, Knueppel, and Miller.

The Hornets used one of their two first-round picks on Tuesday to select point guard Christian Anderson Jr. out of Texas Tech, and they’re now well positioned to re-sign White. However, Anderson is a rookie and White is more of a combo guard, so adding another point guard to the roster before the 2026/27 season tips off will likely be a goal for Charlotte.