Why did the Hornets Trade LaMelo
And how will one of the league's most dynamic offenses adapt without its biggest playmaker?
On the night of June 22nd, 2026, the casual basketball fan and rabid NBA Twitter user were both eyeing the account of NBA Insider Shams Charania. The trade rumors that swirled around the Bucks’ superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo for years were coming to a head, with the Celtics and Heat publicly in the market. This post isn’t about Giannis, though -- before the shoe dropped and Giannis was confirmed to the Heat that night, Shams broke another piece of news. Julius Randle was out of Minnesota in a “salary dump,” a trade that frees up money to sign other players. Fans theorized regarding what the Wolves were up to for the next hour before it was announced that the Wolves’ midseason acquisition, guard Ayo Dosunmu, came to a contract agreement with the Wolves. The five-year, $112 million contract secured Ayo’s future with the team while still leaving a small gap to fill from Randle’s departure. The side plot to the Giannis trade came out of what appeared to be nowhere and neatly resolved itself before bedtime.
Two days later, rumors regarding the Hornets’ star guard LaMelo Ball being traded began to pick up steam. These rumors seemed unfounded at first, given that the Hornets had just come off of their best season in over a decade and had an exciting young core -- LaMelo was able to generate action for sharpshooters Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller alongside making threes of his own at a good clip. This formula nearly led them to their first playoff appearance since 2015. However, not even twelve hours later, Shams woke up the NBA world with the bombshell that LaMelo was headed to the twin cities in exchange for Minnesotan and cultural icon Naz Reid and draft capital. The sudden nature of this trade incited more division over who ‘won’ the exchange than the Giannis trade, which had been percolating for years.
