Should the Charlotte Hornets look to trade Malik Monk in the offseason?

After failing to make the playoffs for the fourth straight year, the Charlotte Hornets might be looking to shake things up. Perhaps shedding some young talent could be on the table.

Mitch Kupchak is entering his third offseason as Charlotte Hornets General Manager. So far, it’s been an up-and-down tenure, but that’s to be expected with a franchise like Charlotte. It’s not easy to fix something that was borderline broken when you inherited it.

Things could have been handled better but they also could have been handled much worse, as well, and the team now has a set of young players with which to work around. Questions remain, however, whether or not Malik Monk will be part of that group.

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It’s safe to say that Monk, who was drafted 11th overall back in 2017 by the Hornets, hasn’t panned out. There have been glimpses of brilliance here and there, but those have been outweighed by poor on the court performances or just plain bad decisions, namely a suspension due to violating the league’s drug policy.

Monk is still young, having just turned 22 back in February, so there is still some time to develop, but after three years in the NBA, is it time to move on? Yes, he has improved several key statistics, like upping his scoring from 8.9 points a game to 10.3 or his overall field goal percentage from 39 percent to 43 percent, but his 3-point field goal percentage took a huge dive this season from 33 percent last year to just 28 percent.

Then, of course, there is the aforementioned drug suspension and while Charlotte has said they remain committed to Monk, he is in the last year of a contract that the team exercised in October of last year. He’ll be set to make $5.3 million next season and while that isn’t too much money, if other teams are interested, then looking at options isn’t terrible.

Just a few months ago, the New York Knicks expressed interest in the 6’3″ guard, but ultimately, no deals could be finalized before the trade deadline. I imagine the suspension would make such a trade even harder, regardless of the state of the world at the moment.

It’s probably too early to call Malik Monk a bust, especially with as much raw talent as he has, but maybe the Charlotte Hornets weren’t the right fit. That happens all too often and sometimes a change of scenery is all a player needs to find his groove.

You never hope it comes to that as seeing young guys improve and find their spot in the league is always nice, especially for your home team. Then again, sometimes, the home team isn’t always the right team.