The Minnesota Timberwolves‘ acquisition of LaMelo Ball is officially complete. The four-team trade with the Charlotte Hornets, Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls was finalized Friday, according to press releases from all four teams, as first detailed by Rory Maher of Hoops Rumors — closing the books on a deal that has shaped Minnesota’s entire offseason since it was first reported in late June.
The final structure: Minnesota receives Ball, Josh Green and the draft rights to No. 33 pick Isaiah Evans from Brooklyn. Charlotte receives Naz Reid, Mouhamadou Gueye, the draft rights to Matteo Spagnolo, the Wolves’ unprotected 2033 first-round pick, second-round picks in 2029, 2032 and 2033, and first-round swap rights in 2028, 2029 (protected 6-30) and 2030. Brooklyn gets Julius Randle plus the rights to No. 28 pick Joshua Jefferson, and Chicago lands Nic Claxton.
The two-week gap between agreement and announcement had a mundane explanation. Gueye signed with the Bulls on April 9 and carried a three-month trade restriction, per Hoops Rumors, meaning the consolidated deal could not close until July 9 at the earliest. The paperwork also produced one previously unreported detail: Charlotte acquired the rights to Spagnolo, the Italian guard Minnesota drafted 50th in 2022, per Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer. And the Hornets, by absorbing the deal into cap space, created a traded player exception worth roughly $40.77 million — the largest in NBA history, per Hoops Rumors.
For Minnesota, official means final. The front office bet its decade of draft control on pairing Ball with Anthony Edwards, and there is no walking that back now. The frontcourt hole Reid left behind remains open, and Green’s $14.7 million expiring contract remains the most plausible tool for filling it. The plan is on the books. Now it has to work.
On the fantasy side, the finalization removes any lingering doubt about Ball’s situation: he enters the season as Minnesota’s lead ball-handler next to Edwards, and his assist and three-point volume make him an early-round target in category leagues even if his usage dips slightly from his Charlotte peak. Green is waiver-wire material unless a trade opens wing minutes, and Randle’s fantasy relevance now runs through Brooklyn, where a featured role could keep his line closer to his Knicks years than his Minnesota ones.
