3 biggest disappointments of Hornets' season to this point

How long it took to get here

Like I said earlier, I’m very pleased with the direction the franchise has taken at this year’s trade deadline. But it’s incredibly disappointing that it took this long to get here. It was delusional to ever think this team’s ceiling was ever more than a play-in team. They should have started this rebuild years ago.

The team did well but undoubtedly could have traded players for higher values earlier in their contracts, Hayward especially. The Hornets could have and should have been collecting assets for years, and they’d be better off and much further along in the rebuilding process.

It’s better late than never, and this clarity is a good thing. But it should never have taken this bad of a season to get here, and to realize what should have been relatively obvious. The fact that the team owes a lottery-protected first-round pick in 2024 or 2025 from a trade in 2021 is a borderline disaster.

It will likely never convey, but still, it then turns into a 2nd round pick in 2026 and 2027. That’s an awfully high price to give up in the midst of a rebuild, and it’s a result of the owners and front office thinking they were building a winning team for far too long.

I’m turning a new leaf and I am optimistic about what’s happening now and the direction things are headed. But, I’ll be damned if not disappointed that we had to travel this path of pain to get to this point.