Charlotte Hornets trade for Chris Paul in Bleacher Report’s Fantasy League

On Thursday, Bleacher Report’s Fantasy League featured another trade, where the Charlotte Hornets picked up an All-Star from the Oklahoma City Thunder.

As fans continue to await news about the NBA’s regular season after two months, but Bleacher Report has continued to spice things up. The media outlet featured its second-biggest fantasy trade by the Charlotte Hornets.

In the Hornets’ second fantasy trade, the team traded for a former All-Star from the Oklahoma City Thunder. This trade has the Hornets sending Nicolas Batum, Terry Rozier, and their 2020 1st round pick to the Thunder.

More from Hornets News

• Hornets: Where does Brandon Miller’s ceiling rank among other rookies?
• Charlotte Hornets grade out mostly average in position-by-position ranking
• Hornets News: P.J. Washington makes bold statement on Brandon Miller
• Grade the mock trade: Hornets snag Tyler Herro, flip Gordon Hayward
• 3 Areas that the Charlotte Hornets should see improvement in for 2023-24

In return, the Thunder would send the Hornets Chris Paul and Hamidou Diallo. With these two pieces going to the Hornets, they would help clear up much needed future cap space in Charlotte; however, Paul will be making over $39 million.

This trade gives the Hornets a respected leader and a former Slam Dunk Contest winner. The results of the trade would determine that Paul would be the starting point guard moving forward, while Diallo would come off the bench.

Since being traded from the Houston Rockets during the 2019 offseason, Paul has made many improvements at 35 years-old. The veteran guard averaged 17.7 points, 6.8 assists, and 4.9 rebounds per game during the 2019-20 season.

Diallo also made many improvements this season for the Thunder. After winning the Dunk Contest in 2019, he went on to average 6.1 points and 3.2 rebounds per game this season; this is double what he averaged as a rookie.

While this trade finally gets rid of Batum’s contract, it does have the team losing one of their leading scorers. Losing Terry Rozier could hurt, as he averaged a career-high 18.0 points per game.

This trade may automatically seem like a no for fans just because of the first-round pick that is involved. However, would fans value Christ Paul enough to give up a lottery-pick?

Following this trade in the Bleacher Report Fantasy League, the Hornets roster will see a lot of new faces. In the first trade, the Hornets sent Devonte’ Graham and Cody Martin to the Los Angeles Clippers; in exchange, the Hornets received Landry Shamet and Mfiondu Kabengele.

When looking at the new roster created by Hornets’ Bleacher Report GM Kerry Miller, the team looks very different than how it started this season. Based on recent moves, it could mean that Paul and Shamet would be the starting guards.

So far, both trades have had the Hornets give up a lot of young talent. Miller’s moves would change the course of the team if these trades happened. With the trades made in the fantasy league, do fans agree with the moves made? Do these trades seem realistic enough for the Hornets to make?

For Hornets fans, making trades are extremely rare. Not counting the Kemba Walker and Terry Rozier sign-and-trade, the last time that Charlotte made a major trade, was when the team sent Dwight Howard to the Brooklyn Nets. This trade later turned into the Hornets trading with the Orlando Magic for Bismack Biyombo.

However, these trades by Bleacher Report do show the Hornets what their options are as they head into the 2020 offseason. As fans await news on the regular season, the anticipation for this year’s offseason continues to grow after the recent fantasy trades.