Trade & Free Agency 2026/2027

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Sources say LaMelo Ball has been looking forward to this upcoming season with the team that drafted him No. 3 overall in 2020 to try to build off of Charlotte's momentum from 2025-26. The Hornets went a surprising 44-38 this season, only to fall at the final Play-In Tournament hurdle in Orlando and miss the playoffs for a league-high 10th consecutive season. We're told that the Hornets are nonetheless listening to the offers they're getting despite their recent success under second-year coach Charles Lee and could go ahead with a trade after the emergence of two players drafted after Ball — Rookie of the Year runner-up Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller — as fellow franchise cornerstones. After ESPN reported Wednesday night that the Charlotte Hornets were fielding offers for Ball, the Timberwolves were one of several teams to express interest in trading for the star point guard, team and league sources told The Athletic. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because discussions were still in the very early stages. If the Minnesota Timberwolves trade for LaMelo Ball, keep an eye on the three-team trade that the Wolves agreed to with the Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls, becoming an expanded trade to include the Charlotte Hornets. That would allow Minnesota to use Julius Randle and the outgoing salary-match (he'd still end up in Brooklyn). Would need other pieces involved, too, but could work for the teams involved.

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