Charlotte Hornets should let Malik Monk walk in free agency

The Charlotte Hornets have a plethora of young talent that has shown tons of promise throughout the 2020-21 season. However, there will be some big decisions this offseason, including the future of their 2017 lottery pick Malik Monk.

Monk has been one of the trickiest players to figure out since being drafted by Charlotte 11th overall four years ago. He was selected ahead of future All-Stars like Donovan Mitchell and Bam Adebayo, creating even more frustration for Hornets fans.

Now at the end of his fourth, and arguably best season despite missed time due to COVID and an ankle injury, Monk will be a restricted free agent. At age 23, Monk is still young and his ceiling might be much higher, but the price for Charlotte to take that gamble is just too much at this point.

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In four seasons with the Hornets, Monk has averaged 9.1 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 233 games played. He’s started just one of those games.

With center Cody Zeller’s large contract off the books, the Hornets will be under the salary cap this offseason and will have to make decisions on how much they’ll want to exceed or come close to exceeding.

The decision might come down to choosing between Monk and point guard Devonte’ Graham.

Like Monk, Graham will also be a restricted free agent and in the last two seasons, despite some bad cold streaks, Graham has proven to be a much more consistent player.

Monk has shown flashes of being a very good NBA player. On February 1 at Miami, he scored a career-high 36 points while going 9-for-13 from behind the arc. Later that month, he put together a stretch where he scored 20+ points in five of six games.

Despite the strong performances, a career-high 11.7 points per game, and shooting a career-high 40 percent from three this season, Monk has still shown too much inconsistency along with being a defensive liability.

Luck hasn’t always been on his side either. When he began to play well in 2020, a drug suspension ended his season. This year, he got COVID prior to the season, causing head coach James Borrego to not play him at the beginning of the year to get his conditioning back, and then during a hot stretch in March, Monk sprained his ankle and missed a month.

Since returning from his ankle sprain, Monk has averaged just 7.1 points per game on 29.1 percent shooting from the field.

The guard position is one of the strongest position groups for Charlotte. With Terry Rozier, LaMelo Ball and potentially re-signing Graham, Monk would just be another player that the Hornets “hope” works out.

While the free-agent market is thin, the Hornets can draft or sign a two-guard who would provide the same offense Monk can, possibly with a better defensive game. Add in the obvious need of a big man in free agency, the reasoning for the Hornets to have as much cap space possible is even more necessary.

It’s possible Monk breaks out elsewhere, but at this stage in Charlotte’s rebuild, it’s time to move on.