Charlotte Hornets Trade LaMelo Ball to Minnesota Timberwolves in Multi-Player, Multi-Pick Deal

The Charlotte Hornets have agreed to trade LaMelo Ball, their starting point guard, and Josh Green to the Minnesota Timberwolves for power forward Naz Reid, a 2033 unprotected first-round draft pick, three first-round pick swaps and three future second-round picks, a person familiar with the situation told the Associated Press on Thursday.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal, first reported by ESPN, has yet to be approved by the league.

The three first-round pick swaps will be in 2028, 2029 and 2030. The Hornets also get three second-round picks in 2029, 2032 and 2033.

The 24-year-old Ball, the No 3 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, had three years left on a franchise-record five-year, $203.9m designated rookie contract.

An All-Star in 2022, Ball has struggled with ankle and foot injuries during his career, but he played in 72 games last season and averaged 20.1 points, 7.1 assists and 4.8 rebounds, helping the Hornets win 44 games before they were blown out in the play-in tournament by the Orlando Magic.

Ball finished second in the league in threes made last year with 272, one behind rookie teammate Kon Knueppel. But Ball was never able to get the Hornets to the playoffs in his six seasons with the club, with injuries playing a role. Before this season, Ball missed 141 games over the previous three seasons.

This trade is expected to be included as part of the transaction in which Minnesota agreed to send Julius Randle to Brooklyn in a deal that involved the Chicago Bulls, a second person with knowledge of the agreement told the AP. It will create an NBA-record trade exception of nearly $41m for the Hornets.

The deals cannot be finalized until 6 July, when the league moratorium on such moves is lifted.

It’s another blockbuster for the league, with Giannis Antetokounmpo being traded by Milwaukee to Miami for a package that includes Tyler Herro, a move that followed the Randle deal before the draft.

The Hornets are expected to re-sign unrestricted free agent Coby White to serve as their starting point guard.

Reid, 26, has spent all seven of his NBA seasons with the Timberwolves. The 6ft 11in forward was one of the most popular players in franchise history and averaged 13.6 points and a career-best 6.2 rebounds last season.

After reaching the Western Conference finals in 2024 and 2025, the Timberwolves stagnated at times last season and were ousted in six games in the second round of the playoffs by the runner-up San Antonio Spurs.

Their five-game loss in 2025 to the eventual champion Oklahoma City Thunder and their defeat by the Spurs last month made clear to Minnesota that they’re not yet at the championship level they’ve been chasing since building their roster around 2020 first overall pick Anthony Edwards. Now they’ll have the third pick in that draft in Ball, one of the few remaining pure point guards in a league that has evolved toward more volume scorers serving as the primary initiators of the offense.