It's that time of the off-season for the Hornets where you begin to hear all of the wild takes, opinions, and talks of trade rumors that fans and media outlets have, but this time it came from a familiar face in Lonzo Ball.
Lonzo, brother of LaMelo Ball, recently signed an extension with the Chicago Bulls and is fresh off returning from a major knee injury that had him out for over two years.
On a recent podcast, Lonzo made an interesting prediction about the future of LaMelo Ball and the Charlotte Hornets.
Lonzo Ball says he envisions the Hornets drafting Dylan Harper and LaMelo Ball getting traded to the Clippers
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) May 16, 2025
( @TheWAEShow / h/t @HornetsReddit )
pic.twitter.com/3HT6TRyThZ
LaMelo Ball has spent five seasons as a Charlotte Hornet, but this is the first time that Lonzo has been this vocal about his brother and his team, as he predicted that LaMelo will be elsewhere next season, while the team focuses on a new younger point guard.
However, the likelihood of Dylan Harper being selected by Charlotte is very slim because Harper is easily the second-best player in the draft and is expected to go top two.
The Hornets hold the fourth pick in the upcoming draft, which makes Lonzo's prediction seem a little unrealistic, unless the Hornets get extremely lucky or trade up for Harper.
The chances of LaMelo being traded from the Hornets remain to be relatively low as there's been no talks about the Hornets guard leaving the team or ownership having any desire to trade their star player.
If LaMelo were to be sent in a trade, it would make sense for the Los Angeles Clippers to be involved since the Ball family is from LA, and they desperately need a point guard. Not only could the Clippers use a point guard as talented as LaMelo, but they could benefit from his youth because their roster is heavily filled with veterans who are getting up there in age.
There's nothing more to Lonzo's comments than it just being the off-season and making a prediction, but it certainly was quite intriguing coming from LaMelo's older brother.
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Doug McDermott spent the 2024-25 season with the Sacramento Kings. He had averages of 3.5 points per contest while shooting 42.7% from the field and 43.6% from the three-point range in 42 games. On Tuesday, the Kings officially announced that they had re-signed McDermott. Via Kings.com: "The Sacramento Kings announced today that the team has re-signed forward Doug McDermott. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed." McDermott has been a solid role player over his 11-year NBA career. He was initially the 11th pick in the 2014 NBA Draft out of Creighton. Via ESPN's Shams Charania (on July 21): "Free agent Doug McDermott has agreed to a one-year, $3.6 million deal to return to the Sacramento Kings, Mark Bartelstein and Andy Shiffman of @PrioritySports tell ESPN. McDermott will enter his 12th NBA season after shooting 44% from 3 in 42 Kings games in 2024-25." McDermott has also spent time with the Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and OKC Thunder. The 33-year-old has career averages of 8.6 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.0 assists per contest while shooting 47.0% from the field and 41.1% from the three-point range in 697 games. Via The Indiana Pacers (on May 27, 2024): "Doug McDermott blocks the shot cashes in with a three " As for the Kings, they finished last season as the ninth seed with a 40-42 record. They lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the play-in tournament, so they missed the NBA playoffs.
While the Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders have garnered a lot of attention lately, there is one NFC team that has quietly been flying under the radar. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost a one-score game to the Lions in the divisional round in 2023 and followed that up with another one-score loss to QB Jayden Daniels and the Commanders last season, proving how close they have been to the ultimate prize in the two seasons with Baker Mayfield under center. In an appearance on ESPN's "Get Up" Tuesday morning, analyst and former player Ryan Clark offered high praise for Mayfield and what the Buccaneers are capable of. "Baker Mayfield is a top-10 quarterback in this league," Clark said. "Baker Mayfield is a football player. And when I say that, I know people at home are gonna be like, 'Duh, he gets paid to play football.' No, not all quarterbacks are seen as football players. Not all quarterbacks are embraced in the locker room as one of us." Clark sees the Buccaneers as a team the rest of the league should be paying attention to because of who they have returning and the close calls in the playoffs the last two seasons. "This is a team that's been on the cusp the last two years," Clark said. "Now you think about some of the pieces they've added, the confidence in their quarterback and the way that he plays, and Todd Bowles with another year to understand winning at a high level at the head coach position. This is a team you better be extremely scared of because they're stacked and they're confident." Mayfield has been sensational during his time with the Buccaneers. Although he did throw 16 interceptions, Mayfield accounted for the third-most passing yards (4,500) in the league last season and has thrown the most TD passes (69) in the last two seasons, per StatMuse. To add even more incentive for Mayfield, the team restructured his contract, which is set to expire after the 2026 season, to include $30M in guaranteed salary for that season. The Buccaneers return a lot of production on both sides of the ball, in addition to bringing in first-round draft pick Emeka Egbuka, who topped 1,000 receiving yards twice at Ohio State and accounted for 26 total TDs. While Tampa Bay allowed the 17th-most points per game (22.7) last season, it returns the majority of its defensive production. On top of that, the offseason acquisition of veteran LB and two-time Pro-Bowler Haason Reddick, who agreed to terms on a one-year deal, should be a welcomed addition for a franchise that had some question marks on defense last season. The Buccaneers are projected to have the sixth-easiest schedule in the NFL this season and have the best chance to win the NFC South for the fifth consecutive season, according to ESPN Analytics. If Mayfield can cut back on his turnovers and the defense can create more pressure on opposing QBs, the Buccaneers could be a threat in the NFC once again as they look to put their recent nail-biting losses in the postseason behind them.
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