Stephen A. reacts to Hornets trading LaMelo to Timberwolves & joining Anthony Edwards | First Take

We have some breaking news out of the NBA.Shams, you have the floor.What can you tell us what happened this morning?

The Charlotte Hornets traded LaMelo Ball and Josh Green for a haul from the Minnesota Timberwolves.So now the Timberwolves have Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball, the number one and number three pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, but they sent Nas Reed a unprotected first round pick, three first round pick swaps, and three second round picks.The Hornets didn't go into this offseason saying, hey, we're going to trade LaMelo Ball.He's at the peak of his value, though, and he had a great end to the season.And the sides actually ended up having a good finish as far as their relationship.But when teams like Minnesota, Toronto start making offers and bidding, you have to listen.

The Hornets have always been in the mindset to listen to offers for LaMelo Ball.And you think about it from the Minnesota perspective.This is a massive swing.Tim Connelly, the president, is not a stranger for taking risks.And the Rudy Gobert deal several years ago was a risk.that team ends up going to the conference finals with Rudy Goberi's impacted winning at a high level.

There's obviously not the winning history for lamello ball.But now you try to infuse yourself with as much talent as you can.They needed a point guard in the worst way in Minnesota and they knew it.They were going out to try to address this need for a star player.And I think now when you spin it forward, My understanding is the mellow ball is very excited to go play with Anthony Edwards to try to win championships.He knows the task at hand here the mandate when you have Anthony Edwards to try to win every single year.

Those two guys from my understanding their friends.They've had communication in the recent past.And when you look at it from the Hornets perspective though though to get the first round pick unprotected that's far out.You get three first round swaps.You get seconds and Nas read His ability is a two -way, three -point shooter, ability to defend, play both sides of the floor.This is a major, major hole that gets filled for the Hornets front court moving forward.

Okay.So, Minnesota now has a very stacked team.Stephen A, your reaction to this trade?LaMelo Ball now going to play with Anthony Edwards in Minnesota.

Well, number one, you can't dislike it.It's an elite backcourt.We have to remember that LaMelo averaged 20 this year, shooting 37 % from three -point range.Him and Conker Nipple were 2 -1 respectively in terms of three -point field goals made.LaMelo Ball made 272 three -pointers.So the brother can score, but his gift is passing the basketball.

And look who he's passing it to, a superstar, if ever there was one, an Ant -Man, Anthony Edwards.So certainly from a backcourt perspective, knowing how desperately they needed help at the point guard spot, you definitely answered that call.So I think it's definitely a huge, huge plus, and I give them credit for that.But for me, I find myself, Vinny, Shams, Wendy, looking at the Minnesota Timberwolves and feeling like they got a little bit smaller.in a conference where obviously size matters because of OKC and San Antonio.And so for me, I do find myself looking at them.

Now, granted, it's a bit offset by the fact that Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks won the title.And you saw the Knicks being led by a 6 -1 guard.I get that part.But the other side to it is that being in the Detroit Western Conference with the size that exists, particularly with those two teams, we didn't even bring into the equation a Denver Nuggets squad, a Houston Rockets squad once they get Van Vliet back.You look at the size that exists within the Western Conference, and really much all you really, really have is Rudy Gobert, at least to a large degree.That's how I'm looking at it right now.

There's nothing to dismiss or be negative about the trade.LaMelo Ball is a star.Ant -Man is a superstar.That makes for an elite backcourt in the National Basketball Association.I get that part.I just got questions about what they're going to do.

with their front court because losing nod read Nas read obviously is somewhat.a significant loss.

OK, of the top 10 scores from the 2020 NBA Draft, the Minnesota Timberwolves now have three of them on their roster.Vinny, your reaction to the trade?

On paper, it's exciting.On paper, you're looking at maybe the most dynamic backcourt in the NBA.I think of LaMelo Ball and think of white chocolate Jason Williams back in the day.a player who could do virtually everything on the floor.He could make every pass.He could take take every single shot.

The thing with him was always the decision -making like when you look at top usage players.I know we got a graphic about that.The mellow balls usage is top 10 in the NBA greater usage than Nicola Jokic and Kay Cunningham guys that we know are one -man engines.Can he harness that?playing alongside Anthony Edwards.Because Anthony Edwards, the one thing Anthony Edwards in the past couple of years, he had to take a lot of point guard duties on him and do a lot of distributing.

He's going to get off the ball a little bit more, a lot more with LaMelo Ball there.Will LaMelo Ball be able to take advantage of the open looks that Anders is going to give him?Will he be able to harness that game playing in a more structured system alongside a guy who is the defined number one option?That's the thing I'm curious to see.

Sounds where you're going to add something.Go ahead.

Yeah.This is why the terminals though made this deal.Right.Like they needed an infusion of talent.Someone at that point guard slot.They want someone to come in and take the onus off of Anthony Edwards when they need it.

And there were two paths that the terminals were taking the last 24 48 hours.It was seeing can we go get LaMelo ball.Or can we go get Jalen Brown?They had conversations with the Celtics about Jalen Brown the last 24 hours.But it always comes down to price.How much do you have to pay?

Do you have to give up two, three of your core pieces?They're not willing to trade Jaden McDaniels at this point.Him and Anthony Edwards, that relationship, how much they feel like Jaden McDaniels has taken that step to be a star caliber player.So if you can go get LaMelo Ball, yes.you're getting off of Nas Reed.He's a high -level rotation player for you.

He was going to step into the starting role.You're getting rid of a ton of draft capital, but they feel like they're bringing someone in at the right time to take the onus and pressure off Anthony Edwards with LaMelo ball.And they felt that the point guard need was more significant than trading maybe two bigs.to fill a need at the wing or the or the four.

Well, it's just that real talk here.The Timberwolves package that they offer for Johnston and Kumpa, which they did make an offer and for Jalen Brown were not good enough, but they did have enough to get Lamella ball.Let's just be honest with that.When was the last time we saw in Edwards?Do you remember what the last time we saw in Edwards with eight minutes on the clock?He was walking down and saying, we're done with this season.

We're done.Okay.He very clearly did not have a great season playing alongside Julius Randle.Randle had a poor playoffs.Okay.So this is what we saw.

The whole league saw that.Then We didn't see him, but you can only imagine what he was thinking when he saw his former running mate, Carl Anthony Towns, have a brilliant postseason run and hold the trophy at the end.As how many times this season, I'm sure the number is available, StatsInfo, how many times this season was Anne Edwards double teamed?It was probably approaching 1 ,000.Okay, especially, especially in the playoffs.And every night he was faced with having to navigate those double teams to be the guy he was.

All right.So, so, so the whole league, as soon as Giannis gets traded, they're thinking Jalen Brown, they're thinking, and what, how long till Ant is there?Obviously the Timberwolves were stressed about this.Okay.We know they were stressed about this Shea because they tried to trade for Giannis and they looked into Jalen Brown.And so this move, Yes, it's a vote of confidence in in LaMelo ball.

Yes, it's a vote of confidence in everything he can bring to a team.This is a move to keep Ant Edwards engaged in being in Minnesota because you're entering the segment of his career where it's a danger zone.You had this great success going to the Conference Finals 2 -0.Now you go down a little bit.What do they do?This is a gutsy move.

protect their franchise star in Minnesota.Makes sense.

You're 1 ,000 % right, and that's where I was going.Remember, LaMelo Ball is eligible for a two -year, $119 million extension come July 6th, if I remember correctly.So obviously, acquiring him at this particular moment in time, they understand the kind of investment that they're making.But you don't make that investment unless you know it's something that Ant -Man is going to completely support.And Ant -Man definitely wants to support that.I think Ant -Man, and this needs to be said, this dude got hurt.

We didn't know if he was going to come back.For the remainder of the playoffs after sustaining that knee injury that he did but sure enough he came back, you know against the Spurs in that series and despite like you said being double -team night more than 90 % of the time not just throughout the season, but in the playoffs and being hobbled and not a hundred percent.We still saw some greatness from him.So just imagine if he's a hundred percent healthy and he doesn't have to be healthy.I think that that's an interesting thing thing to bring up because it goes back guys to and Shay to what I said when Jalen Brunson was leading the Knicks to the title.I said if he wins there's going to be a lot of teams that recalibrate and they're going to say well maybe we don't necessarily have to go big with everything we do to answer Wimby or Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hardenstein and the sides that exist in OKC.

Maybe with elite guard play we could still win in this league because we just saw the New York Knicks do it.And if your Ant -Man is great as Jalen Brunson has been you're looking at Jalen Brunson and you're saying if he could do it I should be able to do it particularly if we got the right pieces around me and lamella ball definitely qualifies as a right piece.

You know what de -stresses people in Minnesota right now?If you went out and got Giannis, if you went out and got Jalen Brown, if you went out and got lamella ball, a star caliber player, someone that's box office, someone that you can put next to Anthony Edwards and give him hope, give this franchise hope.Because, listen, when you trade Julius Randall for nothing, what appeared to be nothing a couple of days ago, there was talk all around the league, I know you spoke about it, about cutting costs and them getting significant salary off the books.Where's this organization going, their direction?And what do you see a couple of days later here?Mark Laurie and Alex Rodriguez are co -owners.

They're now a luxury tax team for the third straight year.They have stamped that Hey, we're not only going to de -stress Anthony Edwards.We're going to de -stress our fan base and everyone around here.They're committed.They're paying the price to not only keep Anthony Edwards happy, but to just win and try to give yourself a chance and give yourself hope.

Last word.Do you want to chime in on that, Wendy, or are you good?

I also want to say this from Charlotte's perspective.

Yeah.

OK?Charlotte is here.They got Conkinnipple.He had a brilliant rookie here.They have Brandon Miller.They drafted two guys in the teens the other night.

They, I think, saw an opportunity.I don't think they were like, we got to get rid of LaMelo Ball.He missed 95 games the previous two years.I think they were like, if we're going to do it, we have to do it now.Build around the 21 -year -old.That's their move.