With the Charlotte Hornets having a rough year so far, many expect them to make some moves in the near future. If the Hornets were to trade away LaMelo Ball, the Brooklyn Nets have a player to offer who has been in trade rumors himself.
As of now, the Nets are 3-14 on the year while the Hornets are 4-14. Two teams that are near the bottom of the NBA.
While Ball is the player we’ll be discussing, he’s not the only big name in this mock trade. That would belong to Nic Claxton, who has also been talked about as a potential trade target.
According to Jordanna Clark of Swarm and Sting, “On Nov. 20, Kelly Iko of Yahoo! Sports reported that Charlotte Hornets star LaMelo Ball had “grown increasingly frustrated with the organization” and that he was open to a trade. LaMelo responded to Iko’s tweet on X about the report with a clown emoji.”
With that being said, here’s why a deal between the Hornets and Nets could make a ton of sense.
This is a PREDICTION, not a REPORT.
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LaMelo Ball Trade Proposal to the Brooklyn Nets
Using Spotrac as a tool, here’s a deal that would make sense and work for both sides as long as the Hornets waive one player.
For this mock trade, the Nets would be sending Claxton, Danny Wolf, their 2026 1st round pick, and their 2032 1st round pick for Ball.
All things considered, this seems like a very fair deal for both sides. Considering the Hornets haven’t found much success with Ball as their star player, it would make sense for the two sides to part ways.
The Hornets get a ton of youth in this deal, and they can turn a new leaf in not running their team around Ball. As for the Nets, they’re in need of a potential franchise player.
Given that the Nets don’t have one on their roster right now, they might be willing to take a gamble. Considering that Ball is actually younger than Claxton at 26 years old, this deal still allows the Nets to rebuild even though they’re giving away draft picks.
Other LaMelo Ball Landing Spots
Another recent landing spot for Ball was the Denver Nuggets, in a mock trade from Arkay of TWSN. In this trade, Arkay has the teams making a simple swap of Ball and Jamal Murray.
While the Nuggets landing some extra firepower isn’t a crazy idea, it’s hard to see them trading away Murray. Ball hasn’t proven he can stay healthy, and while Murray isn’t perfect, he’s been more reliable.
Not only that, but Murray has proven he can win when it matters most, specifically with the Nuggets. With the Nuggets knowing they can win the NBA Finals with Murray, having done it in 2023, it doesn’t make a ton of sense for them to make this swap regardless of the age difference.
LaMelo Ball Stats
So far in 2025, Ball has played in 11 games, and he’s been fantastic in terms of his stats. Over that span, Ball has 20.3 PPG, 8.8 AST, 6.5 REB, and 1.3 STL.
One of the main concerns when looking at Ball’s numbers is that he hasn’t played in over 50 games since the 2021-22 season. All things considered, it would make a lot of sense for the Charlotte Hornets to trade LaMelo Ball to the Brooklyn Nets.