Even though they may have missed out on making the actual playoffs this season, making the NBA play-in tournament in the Eastern Conference was a big win for the Charlotte Hornets. This has been a franchise that has seen a lot of changes made over the last few years and they made some very successful moves last year. 

Not only did they draft LaMelo Ball third overall in the 2020 NBA Draft, but the Hornets were also able to execute a sign-and-trade for Gordon Hayward. He had been an experienced, All-Star level talent on their radar for a while and finally, Charlotte was able to get the leader they wanted in Hayward. 

Heading into the 2020-21 season with the additions of Hayward and Ball, nobody knew what to expect about the Charlotte Hornets, but all season long, they were one of the most fun teams to watch because of their “highlight worthy” plays. LaMelo Ball won Rookie of the Year and with other young, versatile talents in Devonte’ Graham, Malik Monk, P.J. Washignton and Miles Bridges, this team kept getting better and better throughout the year. 

Unfortunately, they came up short of making the playoffs due to several injuries, but the future is extremely bright for Charlotte. They have a chance to finally break through and cement themselves as a threat in the Eastern Conference this offseason, which is why they could look to be aggressive both on the trade market and in free agency. 

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Last offseason, there were a lot of talks about the Hornets possibly looking to move on from Terry Rozier and those talks will continue this offseason as well. With the emergence of LaMelo Ball and Charlotte likely going to re-sign Devonte’ Graham, they could look to trade Rozier while his value is at its peak. 

One team to keep an eye on if Rozier does become available in trade talks this summer are the Los Angeles Lakers. With Dennis Schroder being a free agent and his future in L.A. uncertain, the Lakers could take this opportunity to add Rozier not only because of his fit as a dynamic scorer, but because he is in the final year of his contract. 

Could Rob Pelinka and the Lakers’ front-office pull off yet another big-time trade in the offseason in their hunt for more titles with LeBron James and Anthony Davis? Let’s take a look at what this trade could potentially shape up to look like.