Why the Charlotte Hornets should Sell at the Trade Deadline
With the Charlotte Hornets’ current roster, they have almost no flexibility going forward which is why selling is the best option at the trade deadline.
Fans want to improve, I get it. Nobody wants to see their team get worse and lose more games, but sometimes as a fan, you have to swallow your pride and realize you have to get worse in order to get better long-term. Let’s face it, the Charlotte Hornets as currently constructed are going nowhere. They likely aren’t bad enough to get a top 10 pick in the draft, but they aren’t good enough to make it deep into the playoffs either. They are stuck in the dreaded middle.
I know what your thinking.
“So why not trade for a player and get better?”
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Well, unless that player is someone like Jimmy Butler or Paul George, it doesn’t move the needle much. Besides, what assets do the Hornets possess that would entice those teams to trade their All-Stars? The names that have been thrown around the most as deadline targets for Charlotte would be guys like Brandon Knight, Lou Williams, and Wilson Chandler.
They are all good players respectively, but do they make the Hornets contenders? No. They are the 5th or 6th best players on championship contenders, while on the Hornets they would be easily top 4 if not better. Where does that get you? Maybe a second round exit in the playoffs at best.
The biggest reason that the Hornets would be sellers at the trade deadline would be the massive amount of cap spent on this borderline playoff team. Below is a chart of the 2017-18 salary spent on the current roster:
| Player | Position | Signed Using | Cap Figure |
| Nicolas Batum | SG | Bird | $22,434,783 |
| Marvin Williams | PF | Early Bird | $13,168,750 |
| Michael Kidd-Gilchrist | SF | Bird | $13,000,000 |
| Cody Zeller | PF | Bird | $12,584,270 |
| Miles Plumlee | C | Bird | $12,500,000 |
| Kemba Walker | PG | Bird | $12,000,000 |
| Jeremy Lamb | SG | Bird | $7,000,000 |
| Marco Belinelli | SF | Cap Space | $6,606,061 |
| Ramon Sessions | PG | Cap Space | $6,270,000 |
| Frank Kaminsky | C | Rookie | $2,847,600 |
If the team picks up Ramon Sessions‘ team option (which may be unlikely with the way he’s played this season), that is a whopping $108 million spent on this current roster. That means the Hornets are already over the NBA’s 2017-18 projected cap of $103 million.
Wow.
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If I’m Rich Cho, everybody except Kemba, Nic, Cody, and Frank are available, and honestly, everybody except Kemba is up for grabs if a superstar is involved in the trade. Everybody else is easily expendable the Hornets may be able to get some expiring contracts and potentially draft picks to reload for next season. I could see teams wanting the services of Marco Belinelli and Jeremy Lamb mainly because they aren’t expensive and could be in a playoff team’s rotation.
However, think Marvin Williams and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist may be harder to move due to their higher cap figure. MKG is a very expensive player for someone who can only be relied upon to play defense, and as a small forward in today’s NBA where spacing is so important, I can’t see teams breaking down the Hornets door for him. Marvin is also 30 years old and hasn’t been as good this year as he was in 2015-16 which could be a red flag for potential buyers.
The Miles Plumlee trade was also a head-scratcher due to his high price tag along with the growing school of thought that Frank Kaminsky may be better suited as a center where he has seemed to perform at his best this season. The Hornets clearly got the better player in the Plumlee for Hibbert/Hawes swap, but they also took on way more money long term which could come back to haunt them.
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Whether Rich Cho & Co decide to buy or sell, who really knows. I think one thing is crystal clear, staying put is bad. Going into next season with this current roster would give the Charlotte fan base absolutely no reason to be excited for the future of this franchise. For a team that has seen homegrown players like Kemba and Cody really improve this season, the salary cap holding the team back would really be a serious bummer.