If you think about perfect trade targets, few pop as much as LaMelo Ball. He's almost perfect as far as trade targets go. He's in his early 20s, so he's right in line with the direction the team is going. He's an incredible passer, a decent scorer, and plays solid defense. He'd be a great fit with the Utah Jazz.
Don't forget to mention the fact that Ball is also good enough to make a team better, but not so good he's untouchable. Making a hypothetical trade possible. He's a nice piece to a potential championship team. And while you'd want him to have better shooting splits, they're not so bad you wouldn't move some pieces for him.
The only real issue, the biggest of them to boot, is the fact that he can't stay healthy. Like at all. He's a tremendous talent and with the fact that the Jazz could use some guard depth, as well as some length, getting Ball would really go a long way to help improve the perimeter defense.
But none of that matters if he can't stay healthy. Ball has only played 52 games in a season just one time out of four. He's currently at 22, which means he's missed just about half of the season for the Hornets. They are hoping Ball can get healthy but he's starting to look like his brother Lonzo, injury-plagued.
The Jazz need guard help to a degree, they don't need to go after a Ball-type player as Kris Dunn and Collin Sexton are a good starting duo, but with the Jazz and Ball's Hornets clash on Saturday, it caused us to wonder a little bit about how Ball would fit on the Jazz, and we think he'd do alright, honestly.
Just, those injuries are a problem that we can't overlook. So while the Hornets just traded Terry Rozier and will likely flip former Jazzman Gordon Hayward this offseason, it'll be interesting to see if they opt to trade Ball as well, as he's clearly not the centerpiece player they were hoping he'd be. A full teardown may be in order.
But if you're the Jazz, outside of Hayward, there's no one on this team you want to mess with.