Mason Plumlee, at age 32, is having arguably the best year of his career. Unfortunately, his stellar play has not led to a high number of wins, as the Charlotte Hornets are currently 15-36 this season and sit at 14th in the Eastern Conference.
Plumlee is averaging a career high in points, rebounds, and minutes this season. Not only do his season stats reflect his play, but when watching the Hornets offense, often times you will see the 7′ giant taking the ball coast-to-coast for a strong finish at the basket. While he is not the leading scorer on this young Hornets team, he is shooting a scorching 67.4% from the field this season, which ranks second in the NBA.
Now, Charlotte is looking to trade him.
There is no doubt that Charlotte is out of the playoff race at this point. The Hornets just simply are not winning a lot of games. Ultimately, this calls for Charlotte to dive further into a rebuild rather than to try to win this season. With younger big men such as Mark Williams and Nick Richards ready to step up into the rotation, it makes more sense now than ever for Charlotte to try to send Plumlee to a more win-now team in exchange for future draft capital or a younger player. However, his value on the market may be limited.
As a veteran role player, it is safe to assume that a team that is interested in acquiring Plumlee is either playoff bound or in the playoff race. With his $9 million contract expiring, contending teams may be interested in adding a little bit of depth to their frontcourt.
While teams may not be willing to send back a younger player in exchange for Plumlee, a couple of second round picks or even a first round pick might be a price that teams around the league are willing to listen to.
Although it looks like this trade deadline may be a bit quiet for Charlotte, if any Hornets player is traded away at all between now and February 9th, it is likely to be Mason Plumlee.