The Hornets’ offseason looks genius once you see the full picture
· Yahoo Sports
The Charlotte Hornets became one of the most talked about teams in the NBA overnight when they made a bombshell trade, sending star point guard LaMelo Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Naz Reid and draft picks. This continued on Sunday with another big deal, as the Hornets traded starting power forward (and Ball’s closest friend on the Hornets) Miles Bridges to the Phoenix Suns, for Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neal — and another draft pick.
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Basketball fans have been wondering what the hell the Hornets are doing in the wake of these deals. Here was an organization that seemed as if it was finally gelling, moving to a place where they could compete, and becoming the hottest team in the NBA to close out the 2025-26 regular season. There were questions, sure, especially in the front court — but the expectation was that Charlotte would make some small acquisitions and run it back. Instead, they cast an eye to the future, blew up their roster, and truthfully, it might be the most genius series of moves in the history of the franchise.
The inescapable gravity of LaMelo BallWe can discuss LaMelo Ball on the Charlotte Hornets without taking the discussion too far into denigrating him as a player. The truth is that Ball is a singularly brilliant, unorthodox talent capable of things that nobody else in the NBA is either capable of doing, or confident enough to attempt — like shooting one-legged deep threes with 18 seconds left on the shot clock, simply because he can.
This was also the Achilles’ heel of the LaMelo Ball era in Charlotte. It was impossible to build an orthodox offense or implement a proven system because of how Melo played basketball. Even when it appeared he was running the point in a typical manner, two plays later he would be taking things over again individually, playing basketball in the way he knows, and capturing imagination in the process.
This Melo-centric plan worked ideally when he had no real stars around him. It would allow Ball to dictate the tempo, call his own shots, and distribute when he saw fit. It was a basketball monarchy, and everyone on the Hornets had to accept when the king would (and wouldn’t) acknowledge their existence. This system got weird when Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel entered the picture. Suddenly there were three players who all deserved their piece of the pie, and it became odd that Ball was still calling the shots out of seniority when Miller and Knueppel were the more efficient scorers on the team — and critically, the most available.
It became impossible for Charlotte to envision a future with LaMelo Ball as its leader. Not only had he become too stuck in his ways as a ball-dominant guard who pushed the pace of play, but critically, he was just too hurt. Even his 72 games last season involved a lot of load management, with head coach Charles Lee only playing Melo for 28 minutes a night to preserve his health. The Hornets experience of recent years has routinely been holding one’s breath whenever Ball exited a game, or even showed a small level of pain in his ankle — knowing this could derail the season.
All in all, this made Ball unreliable to build around. His highs are obviously higher than what Coby White brings to the table for the Hornets, but White is consistent, better suited to a facilitator role, where Miller and Knueppel can take more ownership on the team — something they were clearly nervous about doing with Melo on the floor.
Don’t let the door hit you, MilesWhen it comes to Miles Bridges, there isn’t nearly as much to talk about. The best quality he’s brought to the Hornets over the years is that he had a good rapport with LaMelo Ball. Outside of that, he’s been an inconsistent basketball liability, and an awful person to boot.
Bridges has phenomenal athleticism and a good enough shot to be a solid stretch four, but he’s incredibly lazy. On defense, he’s a non-factor, never showing a willingness to be a rebounder, and on offense, he’ll only show effort if he believes there’s a scoring opportunity for him.
Without Ball the Hornets were basically left with his weird sidekick for no reason. So he had to go.
What is the plan, though?If we look at the Hornets roster right now after the trades, it’s really not a terrible unit.
PG: Coby White/ Christian Anderson/ Tre Mann
SG: Kon Knueppel/ Grayson Allen/ Sion James
SF: Brandon Miller/ Royce O’Neal/ Liam McNeeley
PF: Naz Reid/ Royce O’Neal/ Grant Williams/ Tidjane Salaun
C: Moussa Diabate/ Hannes Steinbach/ Ryan Kalkbrenner
Essentially, the Hornets traded away offensive punch to get vastly better on defense, and then hope the offensive side of the ball can be corrected with efficiency by replacing Ball and Bridges. This is also an imperfect picture, because right now the Hornets still hold their MLE, a $40M trade exception, and they’re under the salary floor — meaning they will make more moves before this team is settled.
Moreover, the cupboards are stocked unlike any other team in the NBA. In 2027 they have their own pick, Dallas’ which is Top 3 protected, and Miami’s which is lottery protected. In 2028 and 2030 they have swap rights with the Timberwolves, which are vastly more significant with changes to the draft lottery. It means that if the Melo/Ant pairing doesn’t work, and if the Wolves find themselves as a play-in team, then the Hornets get another bite at the apple to move up in the draft. Then in 2033 they can look forward to their own, Phoenix AND Minnesota’s picks — all unprotected. It’s a long time in the future, but these kick in when Devin Booker is 37, who knows what Ant and the Wolves look like by then, and there’s a chance these picks could also become something good.
The Hornets aren’t building to be a play-in team again, they’re building with an eye on being a force in the east in a few years time, and keeping that rolling for a decade. This is the Oklahoma City Thunder approach, and we know how that has ended up. This no longer accepts the status quo in Charlotte, but it imagines a world where they can become dominant for a decade or more — so long as they stay the course.
Whether or not that can happen remains to be seen, but it wasn’t happening with LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges, and the Hornets knew it.