Peter Okereke
The Charlotte Hornets shook up their team and the NBA in a major way on Thursday morning, with a trade that sent star point guard LaMelo Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves with Naz Reid and multiple draft picks coming back in return.
But without Ball to steer the ship as the floor general, things do not look well for the Hornets this upcoming season.
Last year, the Hornets posted a 123.2 offensive rating with LaMelo Ball on the court, good enough for the best in the league, as per the NBA’s official stats. But when Ball was on the bench, the Hornets’ offensive rating dropped to 110.6, the worst in the NBA.
Simply put, the team was historically good offensively when their star guard was in the lineup for games while they were near the bottom of the league without him.
As the stats above indicate, LaMelo Ball is an offensive powerhouse and it’s hard to see how the Hornets are going to attempt to replicate that following the blockbuster trade with the Timberwolves. One of the moves the team made in the aftermath of the deal was to re-sign Coby White, but he is no Ball on the offensive end.
There is the injury concern regarding Ball that perhaps makes the trade somewhat understandable. But this past season was his healthiest since his All-Star year in 2021-22 when he suited up in a career-high 75 games. Ball reached 72 games last season.
While the Hornets still have some explosive offensive players on their roster in Kon Knueppel, Brandon Miller and Miles Bridges, a winning team still needs a functioning point guard, and only time will tell if the Hornets’ taking the risk was worth it.
