Charlotte Hornets Could Opt for a More Ideal Move Than Splashy Signing This Summer

The Charlotte Hornets have the big pieces in place. The starting lineup of LaMelo Ball, Kon Knueppel, Brandon Miller, Miles Bridges, and Moussa Diabaté are all under contract through next season.

They don't necessarily need to make a big free agency splash now. That's good, because this class is somewhat top heavy, and the Hornets aren't going to sign LeBron James, for example.

They still have needs and still need to continue adding pieces around that core to continue their ascent, though. And according to Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes, the ideal target is just a 3-and-D role player.

Hornets urged to go after Dean Wade in offseason

Cleveland Cavaliers forward Dean Wade (32) warms up before the game against the Orlando Magic | Mike Watters-Imagn Images

Adding a superstar would be cool, but the Hornets are not a team that needs to do that. They have the core, so now it's about building out around that and adding pieces to help everyone improve.

"[Ball, Miller, and Knueppel] profile as one of the top scoring cores in the league, so the players filling in around them need to defend and hit spot-up shots," Grant Hughes wrote. "Dean Wade can take care of that."

"The 29-year-old forward has graded out 93rd percentile or better in Defensive Estimated Plus/Minus across four of the past five years, and his 36.4 percent career accuracy mark from long range is just good enough to make him a credible threat," Hughes noted.

Plus, when you're playing with Ball, Miller, and Knueppel, you figure to get a whole lot of wide-open shots, so a 36.4% shooter from deep will probably see an increase in success rate out there in this scenario.

"Charlotte should have access to the full MLE of $15.1 million, and it won't take nearly that much to secure Wade, who's making just $6.2 million in the final year of his deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers," he concluded.

Hughes said that right now, Tidjane Salaün is doing a bit of what Dean Wade would bring, but Salaün is only playing 16 minutes a night and is still a bit of a project. Unless (and perhaps even if) Salaün is going to jump to big minutes next season, Wade would be an excellent addition.

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