What's next for the Charlotte Hornets after waiving Josh Okogie?

Jeff Peterson has been one of the busiest men in the Queen City this summer.

During a time of year when most Americans clock out of work and dive into a body of water somewhere, the Charlotte Hornets' President of Basketball Operations has been wheeling and dealing.

A flurry of trades, free agent signings, and draft picks, have brought back some buzz to Peterson's Hornets. However, the bevy of moves has left Charlotte's roster bloated, meaning their lead decision-maker still has some work to do.

Charlotte's most recent move, the waiving of Josh Okogie, is the first of a few that will trim the fat from the Hornets' overstocked stable of hoopers. As it stands, there are 18 fully contracted players on the Hornets and three young players on two-way contracts.

If you exclude Daquan Jeffries' non-guaranteed contract that will either be waived like Okogie's or packaged in a trade as salary filler, Charlotte has two more players to move on from to cut the roster down to 15. The two most likely candidates to get moved, in my opinion, are third-year guard Nick Smith Jr., and recently-acquired swingman Pat Connaughton.

NSJ is the odd man out of Charlotte's guard rotation that rivals the Mariana Trench in terms of its depth.

After being selected with a late-first round pick in 2023, Smith Jr. failed to make hay with the senior Hornets in his rookie season. An extended stint in the G-League multipled his confidence, and at times, he showed legitimate promise as a sophomore. The jitterbug guard is adept at creating his own shot in the mid-range areas - a skill that paid dividends in 2024-25 and carried the Hornets' listless offense for stretches.

However, the warts in NSJ's game are plentiful. Undersized for his position, Smith Jr. gets moved off of his spot on defense, allowing opposing guards to waltz to the rim with relative ease. His larger problem, though, is consistent inconsistencies on defense, too often falling asleep at the wheel and letting his man back cut to the hoop while NSJ watches the ball.

Smith Jr. shot the three-ball well as a rookie, but his shooting percentages dipped in year two when he was thrust into a larger workload. Lastly, he struggles to get to the rim, often opting for a contested two-point shot instead of attempting to finish at the cup.

The combination of those struggles and Charlotte's new decision makers entering the fold after he was drafted spells the writing on the wall for Smith Jr. There is a chance that his talent will thrive in a different situation, but Charlotte has too many guards fighting for minutes to continue to roster NSJ.

For Connaugton, it has less to do with his level of skill and more of his veteran status and contractual situation.

The former NBA champion is on the books for $9.4 million in 2025-26, the last year of his deal. With the abundance of rostered players and some wiggle room financially, the Hornets can afford to eat the near $10 million owed to Connaughton, release him, and let him sign for a minimum contract to chase another ring with a contender while still cashing the checks that are owed to him.

The overall deal that brought Connaughton and a pair of valuable second round picks from Milwaukee in exchange for Vasilije Micic would still be a coup for Charlotte even if the veteran forward never dons the purple and teal.

Making that trio of moves would cut Charlotte's number of guaranteed contracts down to 15, the maximum allowed for when the season tips off in October.

Of course, Peterson is liable to package any of those three players and/or some others (Josh Green? Miles Bridges?) to assuage the dilated roster, but every franchise across the league is aware of the Hornets' roster crunch, stripping Charlotte's leverage in a potential trade.

More moves are to come in Charlotte, and the man tasked with making them, Jeff Peterson, should be trusted to maneuver them with class.

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