Mar 16, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball (1) moves the ball against LA Clippers forward Derrick Jones Jr. (55) during the first half at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images

LaMelo Ball Clippers mock trade: How could Lonzo Ball's prediction come true?

Originally posted on Charlotte Hornets on SI
By Zach Roberts | Last updated May 19, 2025 9:03 AM ET

LaMelo Ball is probably not getting traded, no matter what his brother Lonzo says. The eldest Ball brother said recently that he thinks the Charlotte Hornets will draft Dylan Harper in the 2025 draft and trade their current superstar point guard to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Setting aside the unlikelihood of this trade, what would it look like?

The NBA media has long wanted to see Ball in a big market, and, more often than not, that is his home in Los Angeles. He's usually featured in mock trades to the Los Angeles Lakers, but what would it look like if he went to the other LA team?

It would be a pretty massive trade.

For one thing, the Clippers don't have a ton of huge contracts to move off of to match Ball's salary. They're not trading James Harden, who has a player option for free agency, or Kawhi Leonard to match salaries.

It would result in Charlotte needing to waive several players, but the Clippers could offer Nicolas Batum, Kobe Brown, Drew Eubanks, and Bogdan Bogdanovic to get the deal done. That alone is not nearly enticing enough for Charlotte, though, as there isn't even a young, promising player in this deal.

To actually convince Charlotte to move off their franchise player, the Clippers would need to send a few first-round picks to the Hornets. This year's pick is number 30, so that's not really all that interesting to Charlotte. However, the 2027, 2029, and 2031 first-rounders have the potential to be better than that, and Charlotte would get them all, adding a 2026 second-round (via GSW) and 2027 second-round pick (their own) to complete the blockbuster.

Ultimately, the Hornets get a lot of mediocre, somewhat expensive players, but they can move off of them fairly easily. The real pull is the three first-round picks, which is what it would take not only to land a player of Ball's caliber but also to convince the Hornets they should trade their 23-year-old star who doesn't want to leave. If not, a third team may need to get involved.