What Tidjane Salaün's move to the G League means for the Hornets' rotation

After playing in each of the first seven games this year, Charlotte Hornets second-year rookie Tidjane Salaun has been assigned to the Greensboro Swarm ahead of the Hornets' upcoming two-game road trip.

Salaun was the sixth overall pick of the 2024 NBA Draft, and up until this point, he has disappointed. In his first seven games of the season, Salaun has averaged 3.1 points on 36.8% from the field and 33.3% from deep.

Despite the Hornets' big man concerns, Salaun has found himself playing fewer minutes than he did last season, with 11.9 a night.

The former sixth overall pick spent five games with the Swarm last season, averaging 11.8 points and 7.6 rebounds on 37.1% from the field and 24.1% from three.

It's been evident since he was selected last year that Salaun was a few years away from looking like an NBA player, and the growing pains have been difficult. Tidjane's defense, which should have been one of his clear pro-ready parts of his game, has been a struggle. At 6'9, Salaun gets tasked with guarding the paint routinely. According to CraftedNBA, his rim defense value has been a 1.7, or in the 26th percentile of NBA players (for reference, James Harden is in the 32nd percentile).

Tidjane's offense is significantly worse, as he does not even look remotely close to league-ready there yet. He's in the 38th percentile for true-shooting, 24th for shot quality, and 9th for creation. His playmaking has been great thus far, though, as he is in the 93rd percentile there.

Salaun's G-League stint likely has to be in part with his minutes being eaten by veteran Pat Connaughton.

Connaughton received by far his most minutes in Sunday's victory over the Utah Jazz, playing 14 minutes and recording 6 points on 2-5 (2-4 3PT) and a block. Connaughton was acquired via trade with the Milwaukee Bucks in July, and originally was told by President of Basketball Operations Jeff Peterson that he would most likely not make the team.

Despite this, Pat made his way onto the roster, and in Sunday night's victory received his first minutes real minutes as a Hornet.

Tidjane's size, age, and draft selection had him seeing the floor to start the year, but in the last few games has seen his minutes decrease/get pulled. In last night's victory, Tidjane did not see any second half minutes despite the Hornets 30 point lead, and all of his potential minutes were given to Connaughton.

Connaughton's veteran experience gives him a significant advantage over Tidjane. At the minimum, Pat knows where he needs to be on an NBA floor, and would either be in the corner open for a three, or put the ball on the floor to find the best shot possible.

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