The acquisition of Coby White answered a lingering issue for the Charlotte Hornets. However, there is still time for Jeff Peterson to make some more moves, and it seems the next step for the franchise is to move on from Tre Mann and flip him for a more useful asset.
Before the White deal, the Hornets’ most tradable assets were Collin Sexton and Mason Plumlee. Both are gone. Sexton is headed to the Chicago Bulls, although it’s unclear what they plan to do with the combo guard, given their hilarious surplus of guards on the roster. Meanwhile, Plumlee was shipped to the Oklahoma City Thunder and is a buyout candidate.
That leaves Mann, who has had a disappointing season in Charlotte so far. He is averaging just 7.5 points and 2.2 assists per game. And while his efficiency from the field has picked up after a horrendous start to this campaign, he is still far from being a serviceable backup and has been on garbage-time duties for over a month. With White taking Sexton's place on the rotation, the outlook for Mann has dipped even more.
Any takers for Tre Mann?
The question now is whether any organization will take a flyer on the score-first guard, who had generated Sixth Man of the Year buzz early in the 2024-25 campaign before sustaining what turned out to be a season-ending back injury.
It’s worth mentioning that following his trade to the Hornets in the middle of the 2023-24 season, he started in all of his 28 appearances with the purple and teal and put up 11.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and 1.7 steals per contest. So, there’s certainly a potential for Mann to thrive in a different environment.
A few scribes have brought up the possibility of the Orlando Magic becoming the 25-year-old guard’s new home. It sounds pretty similar to our suggestion here on Swarm and Sting last offseason that the Magic could be Charlotte’s midseason trade partner, because they appear to need some backcourt and offensive help, and they have some big men they would have no qualms parting ways with.
Maybe a swap between Mann and Goga Bitadze would work for both parties. Bitadze could serve as the Hornets’ third-string center, which would be a luxury for the squad, as the 26-year-old big man has proven to be effective and productive on both ends of the floor in limited minutes for most of his career.
The Hornets can also look for a different destination for Mann or just opt to keep him for now. But with the arrival of White and the continuous development of youngsters like Sion James and current G League staple Liam McNeeley, there might not be enough minutes for Mann to try to turn his career around in Charlotte.