Charlotte Hornets also missed out on a Harrison Barnes trade

The Charlotte Hornets had an uneventful trade deadline, flopping at the chance to add Marc Gasol and even Harrison Barnes.

Many Charlotte Hornets fans are disappointed about the outcome of today’s NBA trade deadline. The Hornets did not make a single trade, but they were very active, and nearly acquired new Sacramento Kings forward Harrison Barnes.

According to Marc Stein of The New York Times and Rod Boone of The Athletic, the Hornets were “close” to trading for Barnes, but the Mavericks felt the Kings had a better offer at the time.

So, the Hornets put together trade packages for both Barnes and Gasol, but at the end of the day, they could not get a deal done.

This does sting a bit, simply because the package Dallas got in return for Barnes wasn’t anything special. I understand the Mavericks’ reasoning for this trade, which was to get out of Barnes contract and free up some salary moving forward, but I feel they could have gotten a better return.

Dallas walked away with Justin Jackson, a former North Carolina forward who has shown some promise early in his career, and NBA veteran Zach Randolph, who has yet to play a game yet this season.

Reports indicate that Randolph will be waived by the Mavericks, but they will be keeping Jackson. He will be a good prospect for this fun Dallas team that now features Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis.

I’m not sure what the Hornets were offering to Dallas, but they may have been able to come with a better offer. Obviously, you can’t go back in time and change things, so the Hornets will move on with their current roster and hope to make the playoffs.

There’s no doubt that Barnes would have brought a consistent scoring punch to the Hornets. He’s averaging 17.7 points this season and is shooting 39 percent from three-point range. He’s not a star player, but he is a very good complimentary player to have.

Barnes has developed really nicely in Dallas. He was more of a spot up shooter when he was with the Warriors, but he’s really transformed into a potential go-to scorer. His mid-post game is excellent, he can shoot the three ball and obviously has some great athletic ability.

He may not have been the Hornets top trade target, but he would have been an awesome piece to bring in. Barnes would have certainly been an upgrade over the likes of Nicolas Batum and Marvin Williams.

Batum is averaging just 9.5 points on the season, but does have good all-around ability and shoots the ball at a very high percentage. Williams averages 10.2 points and 5.5 rebounds on the season.

They are both good players, but Barnes is a clear upgrade.

This wasn’t the trade deadline that many Charlotte Hornets fans were hoping for, with zero players being dealt. However, one positive is that the team can develop more chemistry as we get closer towards playoff basketball.