Unpacking the latest LaMelo Ball-Clippers trade idea for Hornets

Believe it or not, the NBA trade deadline is a little over seven weeks away. For NBA teams looking to make moves, now’s the time to start shifting thought into action. The question is, are the Charlotte Hornets one of those teams?

The simple answer is no. The Hornets pretty much have their identity and blueprint in place: a young, up-and-coming roster that’s not expecting to contend right now, but hopes to within the next few years.

Weirdly, the Hornets don’t really have any holes if you judge them within the above framework. What they need moving forward is for Kon Knueppel to keep being Kon Knueppel, and for Brandon Miller to prove he can stay healthy and morph into the star-type player that he's got the skills and talent to become.

The Hornets have young role players to support a Knueppel-Miller star core moving forward, too. They miraculously snagged three of them in the 2025 NBA Draft by making dynamite selections of Ryan Kalkbrenner, Sion James, and Liam McNeeley.

The Hornets don't have a good reason to make significant deadline moves

The Charlotte Hornets are starting three rookies for the first time in franchise history. 💫

— Kon Knueppel
— Ryan Kalkbrenner
— Sion James

Successful draft for Jeff Peterson, Dotun Akinwale, and the rest of the team's front office? Absolutely. pic.twitter.com/ti3iFNXSu4
— r/CharlotteHornets (@HornetsReddit) October 30, 2025

When you also consider Tre Mann and Moussa Diabate, the pieces are in place to build something special in Charlotte, even if the final product is a couple of years away. This is why it feels superfluous to add to this roster before February. What would be the point, exactly?

Hornets On SI’s Matt Alquiza summed up this situation accurately on Monday.

“I honestly don’t even know what getting aggressive at the deadline would look like for the Hornets,” Alquiza wrote. “Someone pitch me some *realistic* trades that would improve this roster in February.”

To Alquiza's point, what’s ultimately most “realistic” for the Hornets is standing pat … unless they’re interested in trading LaMelo Ball.

Notice how Ball isn’t mentioned in the above plan for Charlotte’s future. That doesn’t mean he won’t be, but it does show that the Hornets are capable of moving forward and becoming a winning team without him. The immediate rise of Knueppel, Miller’s continued flashes of brilliance, and Melo’s continued durability red flags all contribute to this new reality for Charlotte.

That being said, Hornets head coach Charles Lee has indicated in interviews that Charlotte is interested in seeing the Melo/Miller/Knueppel core play together for a larger sample size (presumably, this season, at the very least).

This makes a LaMelo trade feel unlikely, even if it sort of makes sense for Charlotte.

If the Hornets were going to make a big move within the next seven weeks, though, it would involve LaMelo. This thought had Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley dreaming up a Melo-LA Clippers deal on Monday.

Bleacher Report proposes a Clippers-Hornets trade sending LaMelo Ball to LA and John Collins to Charlotte

John Collins doin' what John Collins does best pic.twitter.com/eQw45TSo4Q
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) December 6, 2025

Buckley proposed a deal sending LaMelo to the Clippers (making LaVar Ball really happy) and a package of John Collins, Bogdan Bogdanović, Cam Christie, and a 2030 first-round pick (top-3 protected) to the Hornets.

Collins is on an expiring contract, and Bogdanović has a team option for next season, so he’s effectively expiring. Cam Christie is somewhat of a nothing-burger asset. The first-rounder in 2030 is of good value.

This wouldn’t be a terrible package for LaMelo if Collins were on an affordable deal and not expiring. His rebounding and athleticism would actually really help the Hornets. Plugging him into the four spot would give them another reason to trade Miles Bridges, which is something they should’ve already done.

Collins’ numbers are down this year on a weird and toxic Clippers team, but he’s a career 7.9 per game rebounder. At 28 years old, he still has plenty of elite bounce, and he shoots 35.9 percent from three for his career — not bad for a stretch big. This is a good NBA player, though overpaid on his current deal.

On the other hand, the Hornets have no need for Bogdanović, but they could flip him as an asset in another deal.

At the end of the day, is a half-season of John Collins and a future first good value for LaMelo Ball? No, not even with Ball’s value having plummeted recently. Collins would actually help the Hornets win more games this year, so this trade might make sense if the franchise’s sole goal was to make the 2025-26 Play-In, but that shouldn’t be their north star.

This trade deserves a respectful pass, with a sad, whispered acknowledgment that Melo’s trade value might not be that much better than this package.

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