Proposed LaMelo Ball Trade Idea Doesn't Help the Hornets Whatsoever

The Charlotte Hornets have seemingly never entertained the idea of a LaMelo Ball trade. Even when they were losing 50 or more games a year, and Ball was missing half of them, it seemed like they were always intent on seeing what they could build with him.

In 2025-26, they finally saw the fruits of that. Ball engineered a top-five offense (number one after January 1), and he was healthy, playing 72 games and getting the Hornets to the Play-In Tournament.

Why they would then finally decide they've had enough and move on from Ball is beyond me, but Bleacher Report's Zach Buckley pitched an idea that moves the Hornets up in the NBA draft and gets rid of Ball.

Here's the full trade:

Charlotte Hornets receive:
Number 9 overall pick (Brayden Burries)
Kyrie Irving
Dallas Mavericks receive:
Number 14 overall pick (Cameron Carr)
Number 18 overall pick (Chris Cenac Jr.)
LaMelo Ball

There's just no world where the Hornets would even entertain this idea. This trade makes them definitively worse, and it depletes the capital they've worked so hard to accrue over the last few seasons.

There is a small chance that packaging the 14th and 18th picks could get them to move up to ninth overall. There's a small chance Burries is available at 14, which he was in a recent mock draft we ran, too.

So adding in Ball for Kyrie Irving, who is 34 and coming off a torn ACL who also costs nearly $40 million next year and over $42 million the year after, is just absurd. That makes the Hornets worse, and Burries isn't, with all due respect, a home run prospect that demands this sort of move.

Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball (1) dribbles up court against the New York Knicks | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

If the Hornets are going to include Ball in a deal to move up, it should honestly only be for a top-four pick, but even that feels a little foolish. All the data suggests that it's Ball, not Kon Knueppel or Brandon Miller, who drove the offensive resurgence in 2025-26.

Buckley argued, "Maybe they're just unconvinced that Ball can lead a winning team. Maybe they credit that stretch run less to him and more to the addition of Knueppel, the ascension of Brandon Miller and some out-of-nowhere gains on the defensive end."

As mentioned, this is patently false. The net rating with Ball, Knueppel, and Miller on the floor was +15.7 in almost 900 minutes. Without Ball in that trio, the net rating drops to -8.4 in 296 minutes. That's an absurd dropoff that paints a very clear picture.

"Short-term, a healthy Irving should be far easier to follow than Ball. You may not always know if Irving is playing, but you know what you'll get if he does: elite shotmaking, all-time handles, offensive ingenuity and the ability to work both on and off the ball," Buckley continued.

Wasn't health one of the biggest knocks on Ball? So why would the Hornets trade for someone who also can't stay healthy? And those positives for Irving can also be attributed to Ball. He's a good shotmaker, especially from distance. Ball has good handles, and with all due respect, he's far more of a creative genius on offense than Irving is.

Buckley also said Burries is a plug-and-play prospect with star potential. A good outcome for Burries, who is still an unproven prospect, would be becoming anywhere close to as good as Ball is. So why would the Hornets ditch Ball, who's still pretty young, for a question mark?

Fortunately, this idea is so ridiculous that the Hornets won't even bother considering it. Jeff Peterson would laugh Mike Schmitz off the phone if the new Mavericks GM tried to get this deal done.

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