The Hornets trade LaMelo Ball to the Clippers in a wild Bill Simmons proposal

Nearly two months into the NBA season, most teams around the league have a good sense of who will contend and who won’t, meaning some teams will quickly turn to trades to bolster their rosters or cash out in the midst of a terrible season. And that’s where Bill Simmons enters.

A regular user of the trading machine, Simmons has been dropping potential trades for quite some time now, but his latest one will certainly, unfortunately for him, be quite aggregated as it involves CCharlotte Hornets send LaMelo Ball back to Southern California in exchange for James Harden of the Los Angeles Clippers.

“What about LaMela and Harden in a joint deal?” Simmons he said on his podcast. “If you’re Charlotte and you love your team, and you hit oil with Knuepel and Brandon Miller is back and Bridges is good and you’re in the East, and you’re not going to be one of the three worst teams in the East — there’s just no scenario where you’re going to be in the bottom three; your team just has too much talent, and what if you flip LaMelo Hardep, what if you have Bridges and Brandon Miller, and some big guys. And now you could be on a play-in team.

“And if you’re the Clippers, LaMelo, a landscape shot. He’s one of the most famous players in the league with people under 30. I think he has the biggest social media of anyone except LeBron. It changes your team. I just thought it was interesting.”

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As it stands, the Hornets and Clippers are among the worst teams in their respective conferences; Charlotte is 8-18, good for 12th in the relatively mediocre Eastern Conference, while LA is 6-20 and tied for second-to-last in the West. While both could, in theory, salvage their seasons with a run to the playoffs — the Hornets and Clippers are 2.5 and 4.5 games out of 10th place, respectively — some big changes are needed to make that happen.

Would trading Ball for Harden be big enough to turn either team’s season around? It’s possible, especially for Charlotte, considering Harden has played nearly 100 more games than Ball since entering the league, and Harden has also never missed the playoffs in his 17-year NBA career, which could be a boon for an often lottery team like the Hornets.

As for the Clippers, Ball, when healthy, would certainly excite the fans and possibly help LA compete in a fairly stacked Western Conference. However, his health is one of the biggest question marks surrounding him, as he has only played more than 47 games in a season once in his career. It is right now out with an ankle injury.

If the teams were to try to make a deal, it would be relatively simple in terms of matching salaries; even though the Clippers are heavily capped at No. 1, Harden makes just over $1 million more than Ball, and they could theoretically trade for each other without any other players.