Hornets free agency: All is quiet following trades of LaMelo Ball, Miles Bridges
It was already evident based on the activity of the past week.
Even though free agency tipped off at 6 p.m. Tuesday, officially giving NBA teams the green light to fire up negotiations with anyone whose contract expired at the end of the league’s fiscal year, the Charlotte Hornets began things on the sideline.
Read more For first time in 25 years, American adds Charlotte service to SW Florida city
With their roster shakeup still fresh from the trades sending previous core members LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges to Minnesota and Phoenix, within days of each other, the Hornets are in a state of transition. But adding major pieces via free agency isn’t a part of the plan in this offseason cycle for Charlotte.
The bulk of the Hornets’ player movement is done, highlighted by the acquisition of big man Naz Reid from Minnesota in exchange for Ball and bringing in Duke product Grayson Allen and veteran Royce O’Neale from Phoenix for Bridges. There’s not much room left to sign anyone else outright unless Jeff Peterson, the Hornets’ president of basketball operations, intends on doing more wheeling and dealing.
Including Monday’s small transaction preceding the free agent festivities, when The Charlotte Observer reported the Hornets picked up the $3.8 non-guaranteed team option on Pat Connaughton’s deal, Charlotte currently has 16 players on standard pacts. Factoring the maximum of three two-way contract slots into account when they are officially filled, that pushes the Hornets up to 19, leaving just two more spots that can be utilized in the offseason and heading into training camp.
Only 15 standard contracts are permitted during the season.
Add it all up and there’s not much room for shopping the free agent aisles.
Instead, it appears the Hornets are playing the long game in a sense, biding their time until they feel it’s the appropriate time to pounce. Peterson’s bullet point in his media sessions typically revolve around the phrase “not skipping steps” and nothing he’s done so far in his two-plus seasons in charge really suggest otherwise.
“He could just decide to build the right way and draft players,” one high-ranking executive on an Eastern Conference team told The Observer. “It’s kind of a reset after overachieving last year.”
Read more Religious instruction, public schools and the NC budget: 5 things to know
Or Peterson may be building up the cachet of future assets to go big-game hunting at the NBA deadline in February or next summer before the massive $40.7 million trade exception — the largest in NBA history — expires exactly a year following the acquisition of Reid becoming official.
Charlotte also has trade exceptions of $8.2 million, $7 million and $2.3 million that can be used. Trade exceptions allow a team operating over the salary cap to acquire a player’s salary directly into an open slot without having to send matching salary back in return.
And with all the trades Peterson has pulled off in his tenure at the helm, the Hornets boast a treasure trove of draft picks just over the next five years alone. Through 2031, Charlotte boasts seven first-rounders and 11 second-round selections, leaving the Hornets armed with perhaps the second-best stockpile of future ammunition this side of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Throw in the ample cap space the Hornets have and it really makes them a player to be in on a big transaction. The NBA set the 2026-27 salary cap at $164.9 million, and as it stands heading into Wednesday, the Hornets are staring at roughly $156 million committed in salary next season. That also puts Charlotte roughly $45 million below the tax line, providing plenty of wiggle room to take on contracts.
So, as of now, don’t expect any major fireworks from the Hornets in the free agency department. That’s not Peterson’s style and this last week is only further proof the Hornets are playing the long game.
Read more Charlotte region lands 80 jobs and new HQ from German manufacturer’s $19.5M deal
Yes, a big splash or two should come in due time.
Just not yet.
