Remaining NBA Offseason Dominos That Could Affect the Charlotte Hornets

Although the dust has mostly settled on the NBA offseason, there are still a few pieces of league-wide business that could have ripple effects on the Charlotte Hornets.

After waiving Mo Gueye, Charlotte's roster has 17 players, one below the maximum number allowed in the offseason. That extra roster spot combined with a trio of trade exceptions ($40M from the LaMelo Ball trade, $8.2M from the Collin Sexton trade, and $7M from the Tyus Jones trade), gives Charlotte the flexibility to facilitate some of the deals that will round out the league's summer dealings.

Peyton Watson is one of a few players stuck in the limbo known as restricted free agency. In order for Denver to sign-and-trade Watson, which seems like the most likely ending to this long-running saga, the Nuggets need to get out of the second apron.

The easiest way to do that is by trading Zeke Nnaji's $7.4M salary. Conveniently, Nnaji's salary fits neatly into Charlotte's $8.2M trade exception, and the Hornets could acquire a first round pick from either Denver or Watson's next team as a thank you for greasing the wheels on this deal.

Nnaji isn't a rotation player at this juncture of his NBA career, but his meager salary is one that the Hornets could be willing to pay if it means they receive an asset to take on his money. Nnaji has a player option for 2027-28, so Charlotte would likely be paying Nnaji for two years in this scenario.

One of the teams involved in the Watson sweepstakes (can we call it a sweepstakes?), the Cleveland Cavaliers, has some accounting to do in order to fill out their roster before the season begins. As it stands, Cleveland is $22M below the first apron, and they need to clear some salary before re-signing James Harden and making a potential trade for Peyton Watson.

The most realistic way for Cleveland to do that is by trading either Max Strus or Dennis Schroder to another team to clear some money off their books. Strus ($16M) and Schroder ($14M) both fit into the trade exception Charlotte created in the LaMelo Ball trade, making the Hornets an ideal dumping ground for either distressed Cavalier asset.

Schroder is the more likely trade candidate in this scenario for reasons detailed here, and this author remains bullish on the idea of Charlotte acquiring the veteran point guard as a stop gap option in their back court.

In all, Jeff Peterson's wizardry around the margins of NBA team building has turned Charlotte into an asset-collecting machine. The Hornets are positioned perfectly to act as a conduit for the remaining business to be done around the league; a far cry from the franchise that operated without this level of asset management savvy for the majority of their existence.

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