Just a day after Raptors GM Bobby Webster said that his offseason goal was to be opportunistic on the trade market and explore avenues to address the team’s guard and center needs, The Stein Line reported that the Raptors were interested in Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball.
“The Charlotte Hornets, league sources tell The Stein Line, are actively fielding trade offers for former All-Star guard LaMelo Ball…with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Toronto Raptors among the teams known to have registered interest in Ball,” Marc Stein and Jake Fischer wrote.
The Raptors have been incredibly careful with their trade assets, disappointing many fans with a quiet trade deadline this year. Ball does not fit the type of two-way players the Raptors usually like to target, he has only played more than 51 games twice in his career, and he won’t come cheap. After the season they just put together, it would take a good offer to convince the Hornets to move Ball. But stepping out of their comfort zone and adding Ball as a co-star for Scottie Barnes could help take the Raptors to the next level—if he can stay healthy.
Ball could be the answer to the Raptors’ offensive issues
The Raptors finished the regular season with the fifth-best defensive rating in the NBA, trailing only the Thunder, Pistons, Spurs, and Celtics. They have the defensive talent and infrastructure to make up for any of Ball’s shortcomings on that end of the floor.
More importantly, they need an offensive player like him. The Raptors finished fifteenth in offensive rating and scored most comfortably in fastbreak situations after forcing turnovers or bad shots with their swarming defense. In the halfcourt, they lacked spacing and offensive creation.
Ball could be the answer to many of those problems. He has been a 20-point scorer for the past five seasons, he shoots 36.5% on 8.8 3-pointers per game for his career, and he averages 7.3 assists over six seasons with the Hornets.
The Hornets finished the 2025-26 season with their best record in years, and Ball was instrumental to that success. He averaged 20.1 points on 40.7% shooting from the field, 36.8% shooting from deep, and 89.9% from the free-throw line, along with 4.8 rebounds, 7.1 assists, and 1.2 steals, proving that he could contribute to a young but competitive team.
That kind of offensive production and creation is exactly what the Raptors need next to Scottie Barnes. Barring any injuries, trading for LaMelo Ball could bring the Raptors one step closer to future title contention. Ball, unlike some other rumored Raptors targets, fits Barnes’s timeline perfectly.
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