Charlotte Hornets: Trade scenario for acquiring Jonas Valančiūnas

Heading into the new year, the Charlotte Hornets have a lot to look at for improving the team.

So far, the Charlotte Hornets have been making strides to become a playoff-worthy team in the Eastern Conference. However, Charlotte may want to look at upgrading the center position if they want to truly cross the finish line.

The Hornets have struggled at the center position for the past few years. Not having an exceptional center has caused them to be one of the worst rebounding and paint defensive teams in the league.

However, the Hornets could change things and move in a better direction if they upgrade the center position. Even with the Hornets’ salary, the team could trade a couple of assets to get a good upgrade in return.

The Hornets could begin to look at trading for Jonas Valančiūnas, who played well for the Memphis Grizzlies. So far this season, Valančiūnas has averaged 14.7 points and 11.6 rebounds per game.

This is one trade scenario that the Hornets could take a look at:

In this trade scenario, the Hornets would be unloading Cody Zeller’s expiring contract while taking on Valančiūnas’. Valančiūnas is set to make $15 million this season and $14 million next season.

Many fans are ready to see Cody Zeller move to another team. He’s been plagued with many chronic injuries over the past three seasons, and fans want to see a more consistent starter at the center position.

This trade also features the Hornets trading away Malik Monk, who will become a restricted free agent following this season. Monk has not received a lot of playing time for Charlotte, and he has expressed frustration because of this.

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Sending Monk to the Grizzlies would finally allow him the chance to see consistent playing time for a team. Monk’s playing time in Charlotte has been too inconsistent at times. Talent like this should not be wasted on the bench.

For both teams, this trade seems like a win-win, and it does give the Grizzlies some younger options to go with. Both teams sit at the same record, and a mix-up on each roster could be a good thing.

This trade may seem a little far fetched, but this would not be the first time that the Hornets would be interested in Valančiūnas. In 2017 the Hornets were in trade talks for Valančiūnas with the Toronto Raptors on Draft night; however, trade talks did not go too far.

I would like to see the Hornets attempt to trade for Valančiūnas. He is a great leader and has the ability to score in a variety of ways on offense. Not to mention that he has also been a very consistent rebounder as of late.

If he came to Charlotte, I could see him becoming the starting center, which would send Bismack Biyombo back to the bench, who’s played well for the absent Cody Zeller.

More scoring and consistency in the paint is something the Hornets have lacked for awhile Aquiring Valančiūnas would significantly help the team moving forward.