BREAKING: The Charlotte Hornets are trading star guard LaMelo Ball and Josh Green to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Naz Reid, a 2033 unprotected first-round pick, three first-round pick swaps (2028, 2029, 2030) and three second-round picks (2029, 2032, 2033), sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/lkhXBWHCrA
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 25, 2026
Timberwolves Receive
- PG LaMelo Ball
- SG Josh Green
Hornets Receive
- PF Naz Reid
- 2033 First-round pick
- 3 First-round pick swaps (2028, 2029, and 2030)
- 3 Second-round picks (2029, 2032, and 2033)
Timberwolves Grade: A-
Torn ligaments and sore joints built a gate around Minnesota’s 3rd consecutive Western Conference Finals appearance.
Witnessing his former All-NBA coworker, Karl-Anthony Towns, hold the trophy above his head—Knicks beating thesame Spurs team that eliminated the Wolves from the playoffs a couple rounds earlier—Anthony Edwards, the 24-year-old, Atlanta’s son, undeniable rizz and one of the few basketball players on Earth capable of levatating above the court and manipulating every posession, step back 3, steal, fastbreak dunk, one-man 5-point swing, starring in annual Christmas Sprite campaigns, the bag forever obtained—may grow tired of brutal Minneapolis winters that end with other teams winning championships and ICE agents stomping civilian skulls because of special needs boy said there was fraud or something.
Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly doesn’t need additional motivation to give your favorite NBA podcasts some content.
- Traded for Rudy Gobert for 4 first round draft picks.
- Traded Karl-Anthony Towns for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo.
- Traded Julius Randle for a 3 Musketeers bar. The other day.
The aforementioned Donte Divicenzo spending the entire 2026-27 campaign in a walking boot.
38-year-old PG Mike Conley Jr. ready to spend time with his family—retirement banging at his front door, begging to get in.
Tim Connelly needed to add a big name to keep the team competitive and Anthony Edwards smiling, dunking on dorks.
LaMelo Ball is better than Naz Reid. Everyday.
A career in quicksand, injuries turning LaMelo into a “what if?”, the 2021 Rookie of the Year and an All-Star in 2022, fresh off the best season of the 24-year old PG’s career.
From 2022-25, just 105 total regular-season games.
Last season, 72 games, averaging 20.1 points, 7.1 assists, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.2 steals in 28.0 minutes a night as he led Charlotte to a 28-10 finish down the homestretch and a play-in berth.
Edwards;s most talented teammate ever.
Not a perfect A+ score, though.
To conquer the West, Minnesota must declare war on Nikola Jokic, Victor Wembanyama, Chet Holmgren, Alperen Sengun and/or whomstever the Lakers acquire to fufills Luka’s one true desire, a fucking center (maybe Isaiah Hartenstein or Jalen Duren).
The Timberwolves traded away Karl-Anthony Towns, Julius Randle and now Naz Reid.
Minnesota shaved down their size advantage inside of a conference growing larger by the day—to acquire an injury-prone knucklehead with Caitlin Clark’s shot selection and SpongeBob’s insatiable desire to “floor it”.
LaMelo and Edwards are about to become the most dynamic backcourt since the Splash Brothers formed in Golden State—both players capable of leading the NBA in 3-pointers—along with Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels putting opposing dribblers in straitjackets—Minnesota is kinda sick with it.
Hornets Grade: A+
First thought, Charlotte traded away an All-Star point guard immediately following their most successful season in years, and now have zero players who can run their offense.
They re-signed Coby White as I’m writing this. Looks like a 3-year deal. Congrats. The FBI’s obtained 7 years of documented footage, all the evidence they need to declare Coby White unfit to do anything outside of check in at the top of the 2nd quarter and throw bombs at the backboard. Spray and pray.
The Hornets just won 44 games, their most wins in a decade—then traded their star away.
Bold.
HOWEVER, by acquiring Naz Reid, Charlotte creates a massive $40.7MM traded player exception, the largest TPE in league history.
So not only do they gain a veteran front-court big, who can help replace some of LaMelo’s prolific 3-point shooting, stepping onto the hardwood with a ruthlessness these kids lacked in those play-in games—but they add the ability to acquire a point guard with a big salary—perhaps a player other teams are wary of sacrificing their own players/draft picks for.
Maybe someone like, say, Ja Morant—who would be entering a fresh environment in Charlotte with a head coach in Charles Lee he may actually respect—Robert Sarver was too right, too brave—surrounded by Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller and Naz Reid.
That’s kind of a squad.
Even if not Ja, someone is coming to fill that PG spot with all that salary money around.
Not only do they have the huge trade exemption—they now possess a fortune—this LaMelo/Edwards experiment blows up and Charlotte is the next OKC.
This is potentially a dynasty-forming trade if Charlotte makes the most of the assets in their cupboard.
This is an F grade is the Hornets sign James Harden or some shit.
But the trade itself, before we see what Charlotte does with it, is an A+ deal.
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