During his six years with the Charlotte Hornets,LaMelo Ball was one of the league’s more polarizing players. He was clearly one of the most dynamic guards in the NBA and put up some crazy numbers. Others mainly focused on his injury history, sometimes poor shot selection, and lack of team success.
Now with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Ball is teaming up with Anthony Edwards to form one of the top starting backcourts in the league. While the Wolves should benefit immensely on the offensive end with Ball, the Hornets may be in for a rude awakening without him.
The Hornets traded Ball despite the team's ascension to end the year
Despite the Hornets’ making a second-half run that nearly landed them in the playoffs for the first time since 2016, the team decided to move on from Ball.
Charlotte went 18–9 after the All-Star break, posting the second-best offensive and net ratings. The starting five of Ball, Brandon Miller, Kon Knueppel, Miles Bridges, and Moussa Diabate were rampaging through opponents. It could have been easy for the Hornets to decide to build off that momentum in the 2026-27 season.
Instead, Charlotte still decided to trade Ball (and Miles Bridges to the Phoenix Suns) this offseason.
They added Coby White at last year’s trade deadline and re-signed him to likely be their new starting point guard. While young players like Miller and Knueppel will continue to grow as players, don’t expect the offense to look nearly as good as it previously did. Last season, the Hornets posted a 123.2 offensive rating with Ball on the floor. That dipped to 110.6 without him.
That has mostly been the case for Ball's on/off numbers with the Hornets in recent years. White is quite talented but is more of a combo guard.
The Timberwolves' offensive ceiling rises quite a bit with Ball in tow
The Timberwolves were close to being a middle-of-the-pack offensive team last year. They finished 13th of the 30 NBA teams in offensive rating during the regular season and just 12th among the 16 playoff teams in the postseason.
The Hornets’ loss is now the Timberwolves’ gain. Minnesota has been looking for that lead playmaker for years, and as long as Ball remains healthy, the Wolves should remain comfortably among the league’s top 10 offenses.
The Hornets can still be an above-average offense, but it's hard to imagine them reaching the heights they did to end last season, and without LaMelo, they could fall down the standings.
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