Charlotte Hornets swap second-round picks with Oklahoma City Thunder in pre-NBA trade deadline deal

The Charlotte Hornets have made their second trade of the calendar year, completing a draft pick swap with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Jeff Peterson and the Hornets sent a conditional second-round pick in 2030 that originally belonged to the Nuggets to Oklahoma City in exchange for the Phoenix Suns' second-round pick in 2029.
OFFICIAL: We have acquired a 2029 second-round draft pick from the Oklahoma City Thunder.
— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) February 4, 2025
Insert the Brian Windhorst “now why is that?” meme here.
Franchises around the league have shorted the future of the Phoenix Suns, a franchise that has redefined the term “all-in.” Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Beal make up the Suns current core, but the three have struggled to elevate Phoenix into the upper-echelon of championship contenders.
In their pursuit of the vintage “big three” of Booker, Durant, and Beal, Mat Ishbia and James Jones have depleted their franchise's future draft capital and path to rebuilding when their current core ages out, which has in turn increased the value of future Suns draft picks across the NBA.
What does Charlotte do next?
Does that mean Charlotte is going to flip the Suns 2029 pick in a bigger deal to upgrade their roster? Does it become filler to facilitate a larger trade between teams with title aspirations? Is this just a way for OKC to kick the can down the road a little bit further? Brett Siegel of Clutch Points reported that “Charlotte isn’t done yet,” so we’ll wait and see what happens next in the Queen City.
Without any inside knowledge, this feels like the precursor to something bigger for the Hornets. "Bigger" doesn't necessarily mean "franchise-altering," but a trade involving one of Charlotte's ancillary pieces like Josh Green, Cody Martin, or Vasilije Micic could theoretically follow this trade.
Hornets on SI will have wall-to-wall coverage if anything else happens in Charlotte before Thursday afternoon's trade deadline.
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