‘Meh’ to ‘great’: Grading the 3 Hornets’ qualifying offers

On Wednesday, June 28, the Charlotte Hornets extended qualifying offers to P.J. Washington, Miles Bridges, and Theo Maledon, as Rod Boone of the Charlotte Observer reported. By tenuring the offers, all three players will now be restricted free agents this summer, allowing Charlotte the opportunity to match any offer sheet the players sign this summer.

Washington, Bridges, and Maledon are all at different points in their careers. It does make sense to retain team control of three players who have all shown an ability to impact the game in one way or another. The bigger question is whether the Hornets intend to keep all three guys around or whether some of these decisions are being used as potential negotiating tactics to ensure the player doesn’t leave for nothing.

Rather than bunching the three decisions together and trying to react, we would be better served by looking at each player individually and judging whether or not Charlotte made the right decision.

Hornets extend P.J. Washington a qualifying offer.

Aiming to have some control over P.J. Washington’s free agency is a smart move by Charlotte. Washington is coming off his first full season as a starter, where he proved himself to be a reliable option on both sides of the floor. At 24 years old, Washington still has multiple years of development before reaching his prime and is already showing signs of becoming a reliable perimeter threat who could potentially be an above-average shooter from deep.

Extending a qualifying offer to Washington doesn’t guarantee he’s going to remain in Charlotte, but it does give the Hornets’ front office an opportunity to either retain his services or look for potential sign-and-trade deals. It’s also smart business to retain some team control on one of your best young players.

Charlotte didn’t raise any eyebrows with their decision to make Washington a restricted free agent, but it’s what they choose to do next that counts.

Grade: Good!