Hornets youngster’s bargain-bin contract earns him high praise

As the regular season goes on, it's looking more like the Charlotte Hornets won't be competing for a top seed in the Eastern Conference. It's hardly a surprise for most fans, although some may have held out hope that the team could accelerate its rebuild.

The good news is that, unlike some other franchises, the Hornets can bank on internal improvement and have the financial flexibility to upgrade the roster in the coming offseason and beyond.

They may currently have negative cap space, but they are still well below the tax apron. Earning the most on the team is LaMelo Ball, who is under contract until the end of the 2028-29 campaign. Suffice it to say that the Hornets star is worth the money ($35 million this season) the organization is paying him.

Tre Mann has one of the best non-max contracts

It's difficult to assert, though, that Ball has the deal with the best value for money among all Hornets players. Tre Mann deserves to be in the conversation because the combo guard is set to earn a mere $4.9 million this year.

The former Oklahoma City Thunder playmaker has been a revelation for Charlotte this season, serving as the squad's spark plug off the bench. He has been averaging 14.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game, doing enough to garner plenty of buzz for the Sixth Man of the Year race earlier in the season.

Mann has also been a huge reason the Hornets don't rank dead last on offense in the league. They still definitely need a scoring jolt, and some reinforcements could be the solution to their offensive woes. However, the 23-year-old has done a respectable job helping keep Charlotte afloat. He has even evoked memories of Allen Iverson because of his playing style, fashion choices, and demeanor.

For those reasons, Bleacher Report included Mann in the honorable mention of its prediction of the best non-max contracts in the league this 2024-25 campaign. If he had only been able to sustain his average of 21.0 points per contest on 47.0 percent shooting in his first five appearances in the regular season, he would have likely ranked higher on B/R's list.

Unfortunately, the Florida native appears to have fallen down to Earth in recent weeks. Whether that's because of a regression to the mean or the back injury that prompted him to miss two contests a couple of weeks ago is up in the air. Still, Mann has done enough to possibly warrant a lucrative contract when he becomes a restricted free agent this coming offseason.