The Wizards use an alternative route to land a star, add LaMelo Ball
To be completely honest, the argument can be made that there may not be a team that got squeezed out the most at the NBA Draft Lottery than the Washington Wizards. A team that finished with the second-worst record in the NBA during the regular season took a huge tumble at the lottery and will now be selecting No. 6 overall in the 2025 NBA Draft. It doesn't get much worse than that. Looking to make a splash another way this offseason, I can't help but wonder if Washington could explore a trade for an established star.
It's going to be difficult for the Wizards to find a star player with the No. 6 overall pick, especially in a draft class that is more top-heavy than not. Trading for a young, emerging player may not be the worst idea for the Wizards, especially if they're not all that interested in tanking another season again. Looking across the league, there's one young star player who could benefit from a change of scenery. That's LaMelo Ball.
If the Charlotte Hornets aren't completely sold on the idea of Ball being the face of the franchise heading into the future, there's reason to believe that they could explore a potential trade of him heading into the offseason. If the Hornets want to use the No. 4 overall pick on a player that they could build around instead of Ball, there's a path toward a potential blockbuster trade between the Hornets and Wizards.
I'm not sure how much the fan base would be excited about the Wizards trading for Ball, but one thing is for certain: if they were to pull off such a move, it would add a completely different element for the team heading into the season. Ball is an exciting player to watch, and he'd, at the very least, give the Wizards some direction heading into the new season. After the season they had and the bad luck they endured at the lottery, I'm not sure how this team can completely go down that route again, to be perfectly honest.