{"id":714970,"date":"2026-04-21T04:15:50","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T04:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/714970\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T04:15:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T04:15:50","slug":"hornets-urged-to-acquire-160-million-record-breaking-heat-big-to-pair-with-lamelo-ball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/714970\/","title":{"rendered":"Hornets urged to acquire $160 million record-breaking Heat big to pair with LaMelo Ball"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Charlotte Hornets<\/a> are clearly building towards contention with their young core of LaMelo Ball, Rookie of the Year finalist Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller leading the way.<\/p>\n

With momentum on their side heading into the 2026-27 season, it’s possible that a big-time offseason swing to land another established star via trade could be in the works.<\/p>\n

In fact, The Ringer’s Bill Simmons<\/a> recently suggested that the Hornets should look to reconnect with the Miami Heat<\/a> after their instant classic Play-In Tournament battle, this time to discuss a blockbuster deal involving 5-time All-Defensive Team selection and 83-point scorer, Bam Adebayo.<\/p>\n

“Is Bam Adebayo on the table?” Simmons asked fellow podcaster Zach Lowe on a Monday morning episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast.<\/p>\n

“I could offer you (Miles) Bridges and Grant Williams. I could give you your 2027 first back. Now you have it unprotected and you have all your firsts again.”<\/p>\n

“I could give you my 14th pick, I could give you that Dallas (2027 first-round) pick. I could give you a 2029 first. Here’s everything I’ve got, give us Bam!”<\/p>\n

Though Adebayo has become a fixture for the Heat as a home-grown 3-time All-Star and one of the best two-way centers in the association, something has to give.<\/p>\n

Miami has finished as a Play-In Tournament team each of the past four seasons, and a massive shake-up may be in order. The Hornets sit in an advantageous position if the Heat decide to initiate a rebuild this summer.<\/p>\n

In 73 appearances for the Heat in 2025-26, Adebayo averaged 20.1 points, 10.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.7 blocks. On Mar. 10, Adebayo shocked the sports world when he posted an unfathomable 83 points in a win over the Washington Wizards<\/a>, notching the NBA’s second-highest scoring game<\/a> ever.<\/p>\n

By prospectively pairing Adebayo with Ball, the Hornets would instantly gain a devastating 1-2 punch on the offensive end, along with plenty of newfound versatility defensively.<\/p>\n

A North Carolina native, the 6-foot-9 big man’s hypothetical homecoming could propel the Hornets further towards a guaranteed postseason spot next season if a deal were to be agreed upon.<\/p>\n

More NBA:\u00a0Warriors urged to pair Stephen Curry with $153 million two-time NBA Finals MVP<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Charlotte Hornets are clearly building towards contention with their young core of LaMelo Ball, Rookie of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3778],"tags":[7,144,295,189,3881,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-714970","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-heat","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-heat","10":"tag-miami","11":"tag-miami-heat","12":"tag-miamiheat","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116440763987450314","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}