Charlotte Hornets acquire Willy Hernangomez from the New York Knicks
The Charlotte Hornets added frontcourt depth by acquiring for Willy Hernangomez in a trade with the New York Knicks.
According to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports, the New York Knicks are sending Willy Hernangomez to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for Johnny O’Bryant and two future second-round picks. The Queen City team will be sending NY a 2020 second-round pick and a 2021 second-round pick. Michael Scotto of The Athletic reported that both of those draft picks are unprotected.
This is sort of a low-risk, high-reward move for Charlotte as the 23-year old big man has some decent upside. He is only 23-years old and in the second year of his NBA career. Willy was named to the 2016-17 All-Rookie First-Team and won one Rookie of the Month award last season.
This move saves the Hornets a bit of money this season as they are now $1.9 million under the luxury tax. Hernangomez is on a very team-friendly deal. He is only owed $1.4 million this year, $1.5 million next season and his $1.7 million salary for the 2019-20 season is non-guaranteed. Bobby Marks fully detailed the salary cap ramifications of this trade.
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After putting up 8.2 PPG, 7.0 RPG and 1.3 APG on 52.9% shooting last season, the 6’11 center is only averaging 4.3 points per game, 2.6 rebounds and 0.8 assists while shooting 60.5% from the field in limited minutes this campaign. With the addition of Enes Kanter over the summer, Hernangomez fell out of the Knicks’ rotation and is only averaging 9 minutes per game compared to 18 last year.
Charlotte decided to buy-low on the promising Spaniard. Willy wanted more playing time and it was pretty clear that New York was looking to move him. The only problem for Charlotte is how will they find minutes for him in an already crowded frontcourt?
The only problem for Charlotte is how will they find minutes for him in an already crowded frontcourt?
The consensus seems to be that the Hornets aren’t done making moves just yet and this could be a precursor to another trade before the February 8th deadline.
As for O’Bryant, he’s joined the Hornets mid-season last year on a 10-day contract. He ended up earning a partially guaranteed two-year deal and was retained after a strong showing in the summer league. Johnny could play both big man spots and was Charlotte’s emergency big behind Dwight Howard, Marvin Williams, Frank Kaminsky and Cody Zeller. He was averaging 4.8 PPG and 2.6 RPG for the team this year.
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Willy Hernangomez should provide frontcourt solid depth for the Hornets and could play a larger role in the future if he develops correctly. It will be interesting to see how head coach Steve Clifford fits him into the rotation but Charlotte got a quality big. The future seconds could come back to haunt them but they haven’t had much success with those picks in the past anyway.