Charlotte Hornets: 3 trade targets for 2021-22

Charlotte Hornets: 3 trades for the 2021-22 season

Okay, this is a pretty big trade, so bear with me. There’s a lot of explaining to do.

First, this trade is unlikely to happen. I’ve thought about the premise of such a deal that would send Gordon Hayward to the Golden State Warriors for a good bit of time, but there’s a lot that needs to happen in order for it to make sense.

For the Warriors, they likely have to overperform in terms of expectations – possibly enough to where they are a top-3 or top-2 seed in the Western Conference through the first few months of the season. And Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kuminga probably won’t be as big of factors in that happening as Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.

If the Warriors believe they can open up another championship window, upgrading from Wiggins to Hayward may be enough for them to consider moving off of Kuminga in order to make it happen.

Next, Gordon Hayward has a trade kicker, and not an insignificant one, either. If he is traded, the Charlotte Hornets will have to pay him Hayward $14 million directly, which means the trade would probably need ownership approval from Michael Jordan.

And, well, if we’re relying on Michael Jordan to pay out a significant sum of money… well… it probably won’t happen.

With that said, this is just an interesting trade idea. The Hornets would get a complementary wing player in Wiggins that could start, give the Hornets a 2-way presence while also adding a top-10 pick from the 2021 NBA Draft Class. If the Warriors go for it, this deal is absolutely worth exploring – especially if the Hornets are optimistic about Kuminga’s future.

All in all, the Hornets have a few different ways they could go in terms of trades. Getting additional role players seems like the most likely scenario, though.