Charlotte Hornets agree to one-year, $2.7 million deal with Michael Carter-Williams
The Charlotte Hornets found the point guard depth they were looking for as they’ve agreed to a one-year deal with MCW.
According to Jeff Goodman of ESPN, “Michael Carter-Williams has agreed to a deal with Charlotte.” It was later confirmed that the deal would be for one-year, $2.7 million. The 2013-14 Rookie of the Year has been on the Charlotte Hornets‘ radar since free agency began. Multiple teams were interested in signing MCW but it looks like he will end up in the Queen City.
Entering the offseason, the Hornets were looking to add a backup point guard. After declining Ramon Sessions‘ team option, there were somewhat limited options in free agency. Cater-Williams joins Kemba Walker and Briante Weber as the only point guards on Charlotte’s roster heading into next season.
The 6’6 point guard has played for three different teams over the course of his four-year career. The Hornets will be his fourth stop in as many seasons. This is a low-risk, high reward move for Charlotte as they will be banking on him bouncing back from a down year.
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The Syracuse product averaged career-lows across the board last year with the Chicago Bulls. He only managed to put up 6.6 points per game, 3.4 rebounds per game and 2.5 assists per game. In 45 outings, he shot 36.6% from the field and 23.4% from three.
The Hornets had limited cap space entering free agency and according to Spencer Percy, the team used a portion of their MLE (Mid-Level Exception) to sign Michael. That means that the team still has the rest of their MLE (5$5.7M) and BAE (Bi-Annual Exception) which will be about $7 million to spend this offseason. With cap space still free, I don’t think Charlotte’s done this summer and another signing could be on the way.
Despite MCW’s shooting struggles, his size could make him the perfect complement off the bench for the team. His size and length make him a good defender and alongside Malik Monk, Frank Kaminsky and Cody Zeller, he will mostly be a distributor and will not be asked to score or shoot too often.
Michael will be yet another reclamation project for Steve Clifford and company.
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Like Jeremy Lin and Roy Hibbert, this move is a very low risk for the Charlotte Hornets. Rich Cho got Michael Carter-Williams at the right price and the team didn’t make the mistake of overpaying. The Houston Rockets, the New York Knicks, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Dallas Mavericks and the New Orleans Pelicans were also interested in MCW.