Miami’s Play-In triumph decides the fate of a future Hornets first-round pick

Who would have thought that an NBA Play-In Tournament comtest between two of the Charlotte Hornets' Southeast Division foes would be so dramatic for the league's perennial basement-dweller?

Ahead of the 2024 NBA trade deadline the Hornets swung a deal with the Miami Heat that saw Terry Rozier head to South Beach and a future first-round pick come back to Charlotte in return. The fate of that first-round pick was decided on Friday night in Atlanta.

The rip-roaring overtime contest between the Hawks and the Heat went down to the wire with Miami coming out on top thanks to Davion Mitchell's heroics and a couple of Disney movie bounces down the stretch of regulation. The Miami win sends them to the playoffs to take on the number one seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, in turn sending their 2025 first round pick to Oklahoma City.

Due to the combination of the Heat sending out a 2025 first and the Stepien Rule, meaning Miami can't send out their own first round pick in consecutive offseasons, they will send Charlotte a lottery-protected first-round pick in 2027.

If Atlanta had come through, Charlotte would have received Miami's first-round pick unprotected in 2028. That will still be the case if Miami misses the playoffs in 2027 and the pick doesn't convey that summer.

There's a debate to be had about the value of each selection, but in this author's opinion, the unprotected first-round selection in 2028 would have been the more valuable of the two. Charlotte adding another selection to their 2027 war chest is far from a bad thing, though, and it could still end up being an unprotected first in 2028 when it's all said and done..

As it stands, the 2027 offseason is a pivotal one for Jeff Peterson and the Hornets. He has three first-round selections in that draft: his own, Dallas' top-two protected pick, and Miami's lottery-protected pick.

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