"If you were willing to part with Mark Williams—who’s 23 and pretty good, though he has some injury concerns—the next logical thing would be to also look at LaMelo Ball," Scotto said.

At his best, Ball remains the Hornets’ only true offensive engine. At his worst, he's a volume shooter without a governor. Charlotte doesn’t just need LaMelo back.

Ball posted career worsts in both field-goal percentage (40.5) and three-point shooting (33.9), and his 4.0 turnovers per 36 minutes marked the second-worst rate of his career.