Charlotte Hornets to keep Johnny O’bryant for the 2017-18 season
After months of uncertainty, Johnny O’Bryant is all but safe as he will most likely be on the Charlotte Hornets’ roster for next year.
According to Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders, “Hornets PF Johnny O’Bryant will have his $1.5 million deal guaranteed for the season.” August 1st was the deadline in his contract. The Charlotte Hornets are going to keep him past that date which means that his contract will become fully guaranteed for the 2017-18 campaign.
O’Bryant originally signed a 10-day contract with the Hornets midseason. After a second 10-day deal, he impressed the team enough to earn a partially guaranteed two-year deal worth $1.6 million. The first year of his contract was only worth just over $100,000 while the second year will hold the majority of the money worth $1.52 million. (Spotrac.com)
Prior to joining Charlotte, Johnny played in Milwaukee for two seasons (2014-2016) and with the Nuggets for seven games during the 2016-17 season. The big man only appeared in four games for the Hornets before he was forced to miss the end of the year with an ankle injury.
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In his four outings, O’Bryant averaged 4.5 points per game, 2.0 rebounds and 1.0 assists while shooting 53.3% from the field, 33.3% from three and 50% from the free throw line. He filled a void in the Hornets’ frontcourt that came up when multiple bigs were down with injuries. His energy on the court stood out and was probably a big reason for his eventual signing.
During the Orlando Pro Summer League, the LSU product was one of the Hornets’ best players. He put up an impressive stat line with 16.4 PPG, 4.6 RPG and 1.8 APG while managing to shoot 45.2% from the field in 28.4 MPG. After those performances, it was all but official that O’Bryant’s contract would be picked up.
Now that it is official, Johnny will go into training camp as Charlotte’s fifth big man behind Marvin Williams, Frank Kaminsky, Dwight Howard and Cody Zeller. He will be an emergency option for the team if any of those four misses any games during the regular season.
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The Charlotte Hornets may sign a sixth big to bring into camp but nothing is certain. It looks like Johnny O’Bryant will be on the final 15-man regular season roster as the team thinks highly of him. “They believe O’Bryant can become a Brandon Bass level player.” (RealGM.com)