Charlotte Hornets: The clock is ticking on Briante Weber and Johnny O’Bryant
Time is running out for the Charlotte Hornets to make a decision on whether or not to keep Briante Weber and Johnny O’Bryant for next season.
Briante Weber and Johnny O’Bryant’s future with the Charlotte Hornets is still uncertain. Both players have an August 1st deadline for their contracts in which their deals become fully guaranteed if not waived by that date. (Sports.Yahoo.com)
Weber and O’Bryant were signed midseason by the Hornets after impressing the team during their 10-day contracts. They were originally brought on because the team was dealing with a number of injuries. Both earned two-year deals that were partially guaranteed.
They are each on relatively cheap contracts which probably helps their chances. Briante and Johnny are owed $1.4 million and $1.5 million next season if they are kept past August 1st. If they are retained, Weber would serve as Charlotte’s third point guard behind Kemba Walker and Michael Carter-Williams while O’Bryant would provide frontcourt depth as an emergency option.
More from Swarm and Sting
- Hornets: Where does Brandon Miller’s ceiling rank among other rookies?
- Charlotte Hornets grade out mostly average in position-by-position ranking
- Hornets News: P.J. Washington makes bold statement on Brandon Miller
- Grade the mock trade: Hornets snag Tyler Herro, flip Gordon Hayward
- Will the Charlotte Hornets be in the 2024 NBA Draft Lottery?
In 13 games for the Hornets last year, the VCU product averaged 3.8 points per game, 1.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists in limited minutes. Weber saw more playing time near the end of the season due to injuries to Ramon Sessions and Kemba Walker. His defensive tenacity is what stood out the most and is probably his best asset.
As for O’Bryant, he only appeared in four games for Charlotte but he managed to put up 4.5 points per game, 2.0 rebounds and 1.0 assists. Despite having his season cut short due to an ankle injury, Johnny brought a lot of energy to the team. He also had an impressive summer league in Orlando where he averaged 16.4 PPG and 4.6 RPG.
Although it is still unclear what the Hornets will do, most expect O’Bryant to be retained while Weber’s future is a bit more uncertain. According to Spencer Percy, Briante’s poor summer league showing could have severely hurt his chances of sticking with Charlotte. The QCH editor tweeted: “Word has started to leak out that team was underwhelmed by BW’s performance in ORL. It’s probably 40-60 chance he hangs around now.”
Next: How every starter on the Hornets can improve
We will have to wait and see what happens by August 1st but the clock is ticking and a decision must be made by the Charlotte Hornets’ front office. After this, the next deadline for the team will be on October 31st for Frank Kaminsky‘s fourth-year option which they are expected to exercise. If I had to guess, both player will be on the regular season roster for the 2017-18 campaign.