The Charlotte Hornets are looking to build something long-lasting moving forward. They want to do their rebuild right in hopes of escaping the pit of the Eastern Conference, and LaMelo Ball will lead the way.
That is unless they decide to trade him. It seems very unlikely that Ball will be traded by Charlotte in the near future, and one mock deal written by Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report proves why they shouldn’t.
Mock trade sees Hornets trade LaMelo Ball to Magic
Here are the full details of the suggested trade:
Magic receive: LaMelo Ball
Hornets receive: Anthony Black, Wendell Carter Jr., Cole Anthony, 2025 first-round pick, 2025 first-round pick (via Denver Nuggets, top-five protected)
Obviously, nobody the Hornets would be getting back in this trade is even close to as good of a player as Ball is right now. So, if the Hornets want to win right away, they shouldn’t make this trade.
But none of the moves they made this summer indicate that they are committed to winning right away. Simultaneously, it seems pretty clear they want to build around Ball.
Anthony Black is an interesting young talent, but neither Wendell Carter Jr. nor Cole Anthony should move the needle for the Hornets. Mark Williams is their starting center, and Anthony is just a sparkplug bench scorer.
Both are fine players, but giving up Ball in for those two, Black, and two firsts isn’t nearly enough, especially if the Hornets are committed to Ball as the face of their franchise, which they should be.
Injury issues are always going to plague Ball’s career, but trading a young All-Star for a haul like this doesn’t make any sense unless the Hornets really believe in Black. And he didn’t do enough in his rookie season to warrant that level of belief.
For all of the concerns off the court, Ball is still an amazing player, and the Hornets don’t have anybody who will rival the impact he makes with his presence. No one sells tickets in Charlotte like Ball.
So, while Black is a fine player, and the picks would be nice, this isn’t nearly enough to make the Hornets consider trading Ball away.
Fans should be laughing at the idea of trading a guy like Ball for a youngster, a decent big man, a bench scorer, and two picks. That’s just not enough.
And maybe Ball’s injuries mean he doesn’t have more value than that, but if that’s the case, the Hornets need to just keep him on board.