The Minnesota Timberwolves moved fast after the 2026 NBA Draft, acquiring LaMelo Ball from the Charlotte Hornets in a blockbuster deal, and at least one prominent analyst thinks the franchise torched its future for a player who doesn’t fix its most pressing problems.
The trade was first reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania and confirmed across multiple outlets, with The Athletic‘s Zach Harper emerging as the deal’s sharpest critic, handing Minnesota a D+ grade, though Charlotte gets an A- from Harper.
Minnesota Timberwolves Acquire LaMelo Ball After Draft
Charlotte sends Ball and Josh Green to Minnesota for Naz Reid, a 2033 unprotected first-round pick, three first-round pick swaps (2028, 2029, 2030), and three second-round picks, according to Yahoo Sports.
The Wolves had already agreed to send Julius Randle to the Brooklyn Nets in a salary dump to create financial flexibility including room for a long-term Ayo Dosunmu deal. Minnesota then immediately redirected that freed-up cash toward Ball, torching the draft capital they’d just freed and pushing the roster to the first-apron threshold, according to The Athletic‘s Jon Krawczynski and Mike Vorkunov.
Harper sent out his daily Athletic email newsletter Thursday with the subject line, “LaMelo to Minnesota makes no sense,” and the opening line of his full trade report set his tone.
“My first reaction to this was, ‘Someone check to see if David Kahn is wearing a Tim Connelly mask,'” as quoted by The Athletic — a reference to Minnesota’s most-mocked front office era.
Ball, Harper says, doesn’t address what actually caused the Wolves’ elimination in the postseason. Their second-round loss to San Antonio exposed a perimeter defense problem and a mismatch-size problem against Victor Wembanyama.
“Ball does not help with any of that. He can be a great scorer and very good playmaker, but he’s also an atrocious defender. Losing Reid and all of your draft capital/flexibility here is curious,” Harper wrote in The Athletic.
A league source Harper consulted during the rumor phase was just as skeptical. “I don’t know what they are doing lol,” the source said, as quoted by The Athletic.
LaMelo Ball’s Timberwolves Fit Draws Scrutiny
The concerns extend well beyond defense. Ball, 24, has missed 179 games across six NBA seasons — 37 percent of possible appearances — with only two fully healthy campaigns. He is a career 36.5 percent three-point shooter, connects on 41.8 percent of his field goal attempts overall, and last season posted 20.1 points, 7.1 assists, and 4.8 rebounds with a 54.6 percent true shooting mark, according to The Athletic.
Minnesota’s roster also skews dangerously small, Harper notes. With Donte DiVincenzo out all year after an Achilles tear, the projected lineup looks like Ball, Anthony Edwards, Dosunmu, and Jaden McDaniels surrounding big man Rudy Gobert. Young bigs Joan Beringer and Rocco Zikarsky will need to contribute immediately. Harper noted the Wolves may need one more move, but the financial flexibility to make it no longer exists.
Charlotte’s side of the ledger looks a lot different. The Hornets walk away from roughly $130 million remaining on Ball’s deal, plus a two-year, $120 million extension that loomed this summer, to build around Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller. They land Reid on a favorable contract, gain real shooting at the five, and hold Minnesota’s draft for most of the next seven years, Harper explained.
“This is a shrewd move by the Hornets, and they may be getting out of the Ball business at the right time,” Harper wrote. “For a team that hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2016, it’s not a bad direction to go,” he wrote in The Athletic.
Hornets-Timberwolves LaMelo Ball Trade ‘Makes No Sense,’ Analyst Says