LaMelo Ball trade grades! Plus, the 2025-26 NBA season's biggest disappointments

Breaking down the surprising Wolves-Hornets swap and a whole lot more

Quick programming note: as you’re reading this (assuming it’s in a timely fashion), I’m actually in Japan! If I have any readers in Tokyo/Kyoto, please email me your tips or recommendations; I’d love to hear them.

I had prewritten this article and one other to send out while I was overseas. Mrs. Poetry threatened to become ex-Mrs. Poetry if I spent five hours in a Tokyo hotel room writing about free agency’s best minimum deals or whatever, and I couldn’t tell if she was joking. And frankly, I don’t know s*** about the draft, so you’re not missing anything from me there.

Then, LaMelo Ball got traded approximately five seconds after I put my phone on airplane mode for the endless journey overseas. So I had to tack a few thoughts in here while the rest of my traveling party sleeps through jetlag.

I’ll be back after the 4th of July to write about whatever shenanigans the league gets up to in the first few days of free agency.

LaMelo Ball traded to the Wolves

Wow! I could talk about this move for an hour, but I have roughly 20 minutes to jot down some thoughts. Let’s move quickly.

LaMelo Ball has a unique relationship with risk. He drives coaches and teammates batty with some of the worst shots you’ll see, then mollifies them with some of the most inventive passing in the league. It’s a tricky tightrope to walk. In previous seasons, he went a little too far in the Let’s-see-what-I-can-do direction, but last year saw him reel in his worst tendencies to a more manageable level.

That said, I haven’t forgotten early reporting that Ball and coach Charles Lee were clashing, and I’m not referring to the literal collision. Ball’s rambunctious style of play feels destined to put him at loggerheads with every coach he will have. Still, the Hornets’ strong finish down the stretch of the season — even with obvious areas for improvement in the frontcourt — seemingly engendered Kumbaya feelings for everyone involved.

Apparently not. Ball is now a Timberwolf, along with Josh Green. In return, the Hornets get virtually everything of value the Wolves had left: Naz Reid, a 2033 first-round pick, three first-round pick swaps (2028, 2029, 2030), and three second-round picks (2029, 2032, 2033).

The Wolves entered the summer with a glaring hole at point guard and a whole lot of big men. After the Julius Randle move and this one, they now have little depth in the frontcourt and one of the most intriguing backcourt combos in the league.

It’s hard to imagine two players more different than Ball and Edwards, outside of their propensity for taking and making three-pointers. Ball’s hit-ahead passing and ability to absorb a high level of defensive attention should make for wonderful offensive chemistry with Edwards and Jaden McDaniels. Rudy Gobert must have shed a tear — Ball promises to spoon-feed him alley-oops that nobody on the Wolves would have even seen, much less executed:

Defensively, Ball had the best season of his career by a mile last year. It was still bad. If Edwards can lock back in on that end, however, a Gobert/McDaniels/Edwards and presumably /Dosunmu starting lineup around him should still be quite solid (if a bit small). I’m fascinated to see how consistently they can reach their ceiling on that end.

Ball has a few years left of a maximum contract, and he’ll want another. I think the Hornets saw Trae Young (!!) get $212 million and were deeply worried about Ball getting that kind of money when the Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel extensions are coming up. Even Ball defenders like myself note that his game could struggle to bloom in the playoffs, where he has yet to make an appearance, and Ball’s health will always be a question mark. He’s only two seasons with more than 51 games out of six.

Ball also hasn’t played with a teammate nearly as talented as Edwards. He was generally good last year about deferring to Kon Knueppel or Brandon Miller on nights where those two guys had it cooking, but that was still a first-among-equals kind of thing. There is a clear hierarchy in Minnesota, and Ball ain’t at the top. He will need to adjust.

All that said, the Wolves were unlikely to find another player with this much talent with their relatively meager remaining resources. Now, they have virtually nothing left to trade. There’s definitely a hint of desperation to what they’re doing here. Still, they’d clearly hit their ceiling in the Western Conference and needed to take a shot before Anthony Edwards starts getting a wandering eye.

Also, the Wolves are now quite expensive again! I had my doubts they’d be willing to pony up this much cash after they dumped Randle, and I was wrong. So apologies to Alex Rodriguez, Marc Lore, and team.

Losing Reid will hurt. He’s a cultural icon in Minnesota and one of the best-shooting big men in the league. The Wolves’ offense hits a new gear when he’s on the court, and they will miss him. But they needed a change. Whatever else Ball provides, you never quite know what he’ll do next. In this case, that’s maybe, possibly, sort of a good thing.

Minnesota grade: B-

For the Hornets, Naz Reid should provide a huge boost in the frontcourt as a sniper and one-on-one scorer. I assume Reid will start over Miles Bridges at power forward immediately or eventually, but coach Lee will probably toggle through all two-man combinations of Reid, center Moussa Diabate, and Bridges until he finds a pattern he likes (or until Bridges is traded).

The Hornets are now Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel’s team. As well as those two played last year, that’s a real gamble. Neither is a point guard, which means the re-signed Coby White — only sort of a point guard himself — will likely get the reins of the offense. White is a good shooter and scorer who is a little steadier than Ball on both sides, although his ceiling as a playmaker is far lower.

Yozzi Gozlan at The Third Apron wrote that the Hornets created the league’s largest-ever traded-player exception with this move. They’ll have tons of financial flexibility and draft capital now to make further moves to bolster, well, any position they want. I’d bet on the Hornets making another splash sometime this season, whether now or at the trade deadline.

This new Charlotte roster has plenty of promise of its own. Miraculously, the Hornets were the 11th-best defense in the league last season; swapping Ball for Reid is a modest upgrade in that regard, but I still don’t really know how they’ll stop people in important games.

On offense, the paper roster looks incredible. But Ball was the drink-stirrer for this Hornets team, and frankly, I’m not sure how much of their incredible success last season can be replicated without him. Still, there is an incredible amount of high-level shooting on this team, and they’ll have plenty of nights where their joint firepower looks unsolvable.

Zooming out, the Hornets took a hard look at a team that, for all its chemistry and vibes, lost in the play-in. They decided to get out of the Ball business while the getting was good. They know better than we do what kind of player and person he is, and it’s telling that they decided to stockpile assets and flexibility.

I’ve always been a little sweeter on Ball than consensus, and I hate to see a team blow up its first good core in a decade. But they’re selling early rather than late. There aren’t many trades in NBA history where that’s proven to be the wrong strategy.

Hornets grade: B-

The 2025-26 season’s biggest disappointments

Anyone else feel like the 2025-26 season was here and gone in a flash?

In my six years covering the league, this season was the one that felt like it understayed its welcome the most. We had plenty of fascinating storylines and unexpectedly delightful surprises, some of which I tabulated here.

Now that the draft is in the books (and what a draft it presumably was! I can’t believe Team X picked Player Y, and I’m sure Player Z will be a sneaky sleeper), everyone’s starting to look forward to next season. Hope is in the air, etc. So let me bring the mood down by discussing last year’s biggest disappointments!

From underperforming teams to injuries to the online discourse, there were plenty of things that left a Warhead-sour taste in my mouth. Remember, disappointment is all relative to expectations. You might well disagree with this list or have your own disappointments, so feel free to chime in with a comment!