Charlotte Hornets: 3 Trade targets that fit LaMelo Ball’s timeline

With Terry Rozier’s four-year, $97 million max extension in the books and Miles Bridges’ impending Restricted free agency next offseason, the Charlotte Hornets have committed their cap space for the foreseeable future into the current core. Rozier definitely earned his big payday after two straight career seasons as a Hornet, and Gordon Hayward when healthy is a great player who has many elite nights in him in any given season, but LaMelo Ball falling to the Hornets with the third pick in the 2020 NBA Draft and immediately being as good as he is, with the potential to be a premier player in the NBA, raises the question about the supporting pieces that share the same timeline as him.

The Hornets have built quite the treasure trove of assets while also improving the value of two distressed ones when first acquired in Rozier and Hayward. They can cash-in in multiple ways to help shift the timeline towards Ball and either use their draftees aggressively to improve or complement them with players that will help their growth.

This piece is not meant as a critique of the young fellas on the roster, just as a showcase of players around the league that would be theoretically gettable in the future and complement either Ball’s skill set and weaknesses or a role that hasn’t been completely addressed in this period of asset accumulation by general manager Mitch Kupchak’s front office.

The following article will highlight a complementary guard that can play alongside all three of Ball, Rozier, and James Bouknight, a traditional center who is an upgrade on the past few players to suit up for Charlotte in this position, and a theoretical star level player as Ball’s running-mate, all who are more natural fits with the contract and aging curve wise with Ball.