Where Do the Charlotte Hornets Go From Here? Laying Out an Offseason Blueprint

So, what happens next?

After agreeing to trade LaMelo Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves and reportedly re-signing Coby White to a three-year deal, the Charlotte Hornets are primed with as much flexibility as any team in the NBA. With a myriad of tradeable salaries, a duffle bag full of assets, a record-setting trade exception, gobs of room financially, and a general manager who isn't afraid to make bold moves, it's safe to expect that the wheeling-and-dealing isn't done quite yet.

While I don't think the Hornets are going to wield their flexibility to bring a star player like Jaylen Brown to the Queen City, I do think they will continue to re-shape things on the margins and continue to remain malleable this summer.

And they will start by trading Miles Bridges.

Although Shams Charania reported that Miles Bridges is receiving "a ton of interest" on the trade market around the league, I'm inclined to believe that the return in a deal for the veteran forward will be meager at best.

Something like Grayson Allen and a future second-round pick or two from Phoenix? Bridges' contractual situation (he is in the final year of his contract that pays him $25M this year) is surely of interest to rival franchises, but his on-court impact continues to deteriorate and he does come with some off-court baggage.

No matter where he goes, I do believe that Bridges is the next domino to fall.

From there, the Hornets need to address the guard position and add some wing depth.

As it stands, both Christian Anderson and Liam McNeeley are slated to play major roles for the senior Hornets next season. While your mileage may vary on the prospects of those two young players, it is clear to me that extending their runway by bringing in veteran players to lessen their minutes load should be a priority for this front office.

The Hornets have multiple avenues to secure this depth. If Charlotte wants to scour the free agent market. they have access to the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception worth ~$15M. Anfernee Simons, Bones Hyland, Jevon Carter, and Tyus Jones are a handful of lead ball handlers on the market that the franchise could sign with a portion of that exception.

It is not a particularly exciting group of names.

There are a couple of wings on the market that would be more interesting, though. Would Bennedict Mathurin be willing to accept the full mid-level and lead Charlotte's bench unit as a go-to downhill driver? What about Rui Hachimura, a physical, floor-spacing forward that would provide the Hornets some much-needed stylistic diversity off the pine? Even lesser names like De'Anthony Melton, Keon Ellis, Khris Middleton, and Harrison Barnes would fill a need for Charlotte.

However, if Charlotte plans on making a bigger splash, the ~$40M traded-player exception they received in the LaMelo Ball trade is the way to do it, and there is a specific player I believe they should target.

Dejounte Murray.

The New Orleans Pelicans are an absolute mess right now: capped out, asset-poor, and in need of a reset in order to build around Jeremiah Fears and Derrik Queen. Murray is almost 30-years-old, 18 months removed from a torn Achilles, and on a contract that pays him $32.7M in 2026-27 with a $30M player option for the following year.

In just a handful of games after spending a year rehabbing his injury, Murray was pretty solid for New Orleans. He'd bring Charlotte's three-point bombing back court an added element of rim pressure, and he'd walk onto the roster as one of the team's better perimeter defenders who has posted an above average steal percentage in every year of his career but his rookie season in San Antonio.

Charlotte could absorb Murray into their TPE, acquire some future draft capital from New Orleans (a pair of seconds?), and send Tre Mann back to the Pelicans to give them another ball handler in return. It would clear an exorbitant amount of money off of New Orleans' books while providing Charlotte a high-floor guard option to run their bench units or start in Coby White's place if he misses time.

I was adamant that the Hornets needed to load up on guards this offseason for a number of reasons, and the LaMelo Ball trade doesn't change my feelings on that in the slightest.

If Charlotte follows the rough blueprint I laid out and trades Bridges to Phoenix, acquires Dejounte Murray into their traded-player exception, and lands Rui Hachimura in free agency (call it three-years, $47M: the full MLE), they could roll out this rotation on opening night:

Point guard: Coby White / Dejounte Murray / Christian Anderson
Shooting guard: Kon Knueppel / Grayson Allen / Sion James
Small forward: Brandon Miller / Rui Hachimura / Liam McNeeley
Power forward: Naz Reid / Grant Williams / Tidjane Salaun
Center: Moussa Diabate / Hannes Steinbach / Ryan Kalkbrenner

That is a versatile, deep, and talented group of 15 players that could contend for a playoff spot in the East next season, but still offer the front office enough flexibility in terms of draft assets and future financies to keep their pathways to adding a superstar on the trade market wide open.

Will an offseason like this mitigate the loss of LaMelo Ball? Absolutely not -- his impact on and off the court will be nearly impossible to aggregate without adding an All-NBA player. However, I think this potential outcome would be just the right mix of entertaining and competitive that disgruntled fans will be willing to sheath their pitchforks and snuff their torches for the time being.

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