This season was supposed to be a breakout season for Dwayne Bacon, but with his constant struggles this year, do the Charlotte Hornets bring him back?
Dwayne Bacon showed some promise last year with the Charlotte Hornets. He was putting the ball in the basket and playing good defense. He was name-dropped in the preseason by head coach James Borrego as having to play well in a key role if the Hornets were going to find success this year.
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This year has not been very kind to Bacon. He began the year in the starting lineup and is now playing in the G-League in his 3rd year as an NBA player. To his credit, he is playing extremely well there, averaging a whopping 36 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 assists per game on 48% shooting from the field down there!
I want to start off by saying that I still really like Bacon as a player and from what I can tell of who he is as a person. I just recently wrote an article about how I believe that bringing him back up to the Hornets and letting him have some (if not most or all) of Malik Monk‘s minutes now that Malik is suspended.
But for as much optimism and hopefulness about Dwayne Bacon that I have, I also understand that he had tons of opportunity early on in the season and only fell out of the rotation because he played his way out.
Despite all of this, the Hornets need to see what they have in him while there is still season left.
With that being said, I am not giving up on him but his contract is up after this season and it begs the question on if the Hornets will extend the qualifying offer of $2 million to him. Also, does Bacon want to come back to the situation that he’s in, being jockeyed between the NBA and G-League? Does he want more money than the qualifying offer? If he does and the Hornets do not have bigger aspirations or a rotation spot for him then why would you pay more than $2 million a year for him to come back and sit on the bench or to play on a different roster?
All of this comes into play, especially if GM Mitch Kupchak feels like he has found an impact player who should have a rotation spot in the draft this summer who will play better than Bacon and for less money.
These are things to think about as the season draws to an end. What the Hornets do with Bacon is very important from here on out and should be taken very seriously as they evaluate his future with the franchise.