LaMelo Ball Deserved Better

This is the first true criticism most of us have had of this front office since Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin took over as majority co-owners of the Charlotte Hornets in early August of 2023.

Until it’s shown in the coming weeks that there’s a plan beyond the initial LaMelo Ball-to-Minnesota trade we heard a few hours ago, I’m not sure there’s much you can do about this deal other than criticize it.

I’ll give my silver linings before I start going ballistic, because I feel it’s unfair to heap the word salad I'm about to throw at this trade without having said the very few positives first.

Charlotte – in return from Minnesota for LaMelo Ball and Josh Green – received Naz Reid, a 2033 unprotected first-round pick, three first-round pick swaps (2028, 2029, 2030), and three second-round picks (2029, 2032, 2033).

It’s a long sentence, sure. It’s not a very big deal, though.

In short, the Hornets received a SINGULAR first-round pick for their best player.

The pick swaps help, but ultimately, it still leaves you with one pick in those drafts with the choice to take the better of the two. It doesn’t move the needle much on your draft war chest.

Charlotte didn’t have to do anything to already be considered one of the NBA teams with an elite draft capital war chest. Now, the one potential good thing about this is that Charlotte controls the 2nd-most 1st-round picks of any team in the NBA (Bobby Marks, ESPN). More than anything, you have to believe that was the motivator for Charlotte and known Sam Presti disciple Jeff Peterson.

Just about every other way you look at this, though? It’s rough. The only other bright spot in this is the 40+ million dollar TPE (Trade Player Exception) that the Hornets created following the trade to Minnesota.

It is the largest trade exception in NBA History. Per NBA rules, the Hornets now have exactly one calendar year to use the full trade exception before it expires. A trade exception allows a team to trade for someone without sending a matching salary back and return, if they choose.

It essentially acts as store credit for an NBA team as it attempts to work out a deal with another front office.

I highly doubt it takes the Hornets one month to use this full exception, much less one year, because on top of the picks, another move in the next month via the trade exception is the only way this truly makes sense. Charlotte treated that exception as an asset in this trade, and that’s a big part of the reason they only got one unprotected first-round pick.

Do I agree with it? Absolutely not. But I’m dissecting the Hornets’ potential thought processes here, not validating them in their entirety. Jaylen Brown has been a name tossed around early as a trade candidate for the Hornets, given Charles Lee’s Celtics’ ties… but despite resigning Coby White officially to a 3-year, 74 million-dollar deal, Jaylen Brown doesn’t do much to replace LaMelo Ball’s true offensive initiator ability. He’s a scorer and really proved himself without Jayson Tatum last season.

The fit is still INCREDIBLY clunky alongside the backcourt and wing players Charlotte currently projects to trot out on the floor.

Ja Morant is another name… one that also doesn’t make much sense, in my opinion. Stephen Curry is one I floated, and I could make some sense out of a hypothetical deal, but then you think to yourself:

“Golden State just took a borderline 24-year-old in the lottery… they must still be trying to win with Stephen.”

That threw a wrench into what was really the best proposal I could find to make some sense of this, and I hate that… because LaMelo Ball deserved better. He gave his all to this city, his teammates, and his body, it seemed like, to be available.

I hate that right at the precipice of what we believed could be LaMelo’s very best season yet, everything he stuck around for – new coaches, regime, and constant teammate changes, all of it – is now for naught.

You can’t explicitly blame the team. This is a business, after all, and I’m just a guy who thinks he can write kind of okay.

But I’ve followed this team to the umpteenth degree for longer than I’d care to admit. This was the most promising young roster Charlotte has had since 2000-2001.

No joke. Since the Bobcats returned in 2004, there quite seriously isn’t a team that, on paper or in print from the media’s thoughts, projected to have as much future upside as this one, and my gut reaction is: All of that is up in smoke now.

At the very least, it’s been pushed back multiple years. You could argue Charlotte has the talent and continuity to fight for the same Play-In Tournament range that they finished in last year…

But the fulcrum of my whole argument there is that with LaMelo, they could’ve pushed past that. I feel as if the media, fans, and everyone alike felt that way.

Clearly, Jeff Peterson and company didn’t… and I hope they have a plan.

You don’t make a move like this unless you do – making a move like that haphazardly without a real plan in place is the stuff that gets people fired.

As much as I disagree with this move, if Jeff Peterson has shown us anything, it’s that he’s a man with a plan.

I just don’t agree with the plan to this point. We’ll see in time whether he proves me and everyone else wrong. I’m rooting for him, for the team’s sake – that doesn’t mean I have to align myself with what they chose to do.

That’s what a good writer does. I hope you see this, Jeff: Amidst all the hate you’ll garner, I’m certain, I believe in your ability to make this right.

I just don’t think you had to put yourself in this position. You’re the one with a staff, though, not me.

I’ll be monitoring this situation with a super close eye over the next week, and I can’t wait to flesh my thoughts out even further. This is history we’re sitting in right now. Let’s just hope we’re not on the wrong side of it like the Charlotte Hornets have been on far too many occasions throughout their history.

Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter for the latest news and updates on the Charlotte Hornets

Add us as a preferred source on Google