Should the Charlotte Hornets just trade Michael Kidd-Gilchrist?
The Charlotte Hornets have made it a point to play with young players this season. With these young lineups, what is Michael Kidd-Gilcrhist’s role going to be in the future?
Throughout this season, the Charlotte Hornets have consistently only allowed their younger players to get playing time. While doing this, it has prevented veterans like Michael Kidd-Gilchrist from seeing any court time.
So far this season, Kidd-Gilchrist has received a career-low in minutes. He’s only seen ten minutes of court time for the entire season; the only game he appeared in was the Hornets’ loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Even though he has only played in one game, Kidd-Gilchrist is averaging 5.0 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. If he continues not to see playing time, this will be another season of career lows.
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As a Hornet, Kidd-Gilchrist has averaged 8.8 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. Kidd-Gilchrist has not been able to average over ten points per game since the 2015-16 season.
The Hornets have made it a point to let the younger players play over Kidd-Gilchrist. Instead of inserting Kidd-Gilchrist off the bench, the Hornets have allowed players like Cody Martin and Marvin Williams to play in front of him.
Kidd-Gilchrist is on the last year of his four-year deal, and he’s set to make $13 million at the end of this season. Kidd-Gilchrist is set to become an unrestricted free agent during the 2020 offseason.
With the lack of playing time, should the Hornets just go ahead and trade Kidd-Gilchrist? To me, the answer is yes. Kidd-Gilchrist is too talented to be sitting on the bench, and the Hornets are paying him too much money to do nothing.
This former #2 overall pick has the potential to be a solid bench player on any NBA roster. As a bench player, Kidd-Gilchrist has averaged 6.8 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. However, in 356 games as a starter for the Hornets, he averaged 9.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.
Kidd-Gilchrist might lack an offensive game, which might be unattractive to other teams, but the veteran has shown signs of improvement in the past two seasons. In his last two seasons, Kidd-Gilchrist has made 17 three-pointers; this is double the amount that he made in his first six seasons. His inability to shoot threes has hurt the Hornets in the past.
Playing time would be great for Kidd-Gilchrist, but he’s just not getting his chance by sitting on the bench every night. With Kidd-Gilcrhist’s contract expiring, Charlotte may have some luck looking for a partner that’s willing to take on his expiring deal.
Next. Devonte’ Graham’s bench role suits him, for now. dark
The Hornets have under four months until the NBA’s trade deadline, so they have more than enough time to figure out what they want to do with Kidd-Gilchrist. Is it time to say goodbye to the Hornets’ former #2 overall pick?