Why This Trade Makes Sense For The Charlotte Hornets
Before their NBA careers, both LaMelo Ball and Lonzo Ball played together in high school where they won a state championship together. Both guys are great distributors of the basketball and “jack-of-all-trades” type of players. While they are both point guards, they are more than capable of complementing one-another on the basketball court and being featured on the court at the same time.
Both Lonzo and LaMelo Ball seem to have a certain type of energy to them and make everyone around them better players, which is why having two of these guys out on the court together could be a positive. They can rebound, they can pass, they can score, they can play defense; basically, anything you want these two guys to do on the court, they are able to do.
If Charlotte was able to bring in Lonzo to play with his brother LaMelo, it would not cause an issue in terms of who would get the ball/be the main distributor because they are more than capable of playing together in a two-guard lineup.
Honestly, pairing Lonzo and LaMelo Ball together would probably work out better than many would expect given their abilities to play off of each other. Having two elite passers in one lineup would make the Hornets very difficult to guard because you would never know where the ball is going. The only downside is that having both of these guys in the lineup at once would give up a lot of height.
By acquiring Lonzo Ball, the Charlotte Hornets would definitely have a lot of depth in their backcourt, having the Ball brothers, Terry Rozier and Devonte’ Graham, which would definitely spark some trade rumors about who would be on the way out.
With how good Terry Rozier has been to begin the NBA season, he may wind up being the odd-man-out because of his value being as high as it will be and the fact that he is owed close to $27M through the 2021-22 NBA season. By unloading his contract, it would put Charlotte in a situation where they can not only re-sign some of their young core to long-term contracts, but they could make a run at a proven All-Star talent to solidify themselves as threats in the East.
Other than an abundance of guards in the backcourt, bringing in Lonzo Ball does not really hurt the Hornets and having the ability to flip Malik Monk for him is definitely worthwhile.
