The Charlotte Hornets decided to shake things up this past season, moving some players out and getting a ton of new faces on the team, including Grant Williams, Tre Mann, and Vasilije Micic.
But with the players that came in, others had to leave, and PJ Washington was one of them. The 25-year-old forward was sent out to the Dallas Mavericks in a trade at the deadline.
Dallas went on to make the NBA Finals, where they lost in five games to the Boston Celtics, while the Hornets remained toward the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings all night.
2024 NBA Draft revealed new detail of PJ Washington trade for Charlotte Hornets and Dallas Mavericks
However, a new detail of the Washington-Mavericks trade was just recently revealed, as the Mavericks made a selection with one of the draft picks they got back in the trade.
With the 58th-overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, the Mavericks selected German big man Ariel Hukporti. However, they immediately traded him to the New York Knicks, meaning they didn’t even keep the asset they got back in the Washington deal.
There is still one domino left to fall in the trade, as the Hornets got a 2027 first-round pick back from the Mavericks, but the trade now looks as like the following.
Hornets received:
Grant Williams
Seth Curry
2027 first-round pick
Mavericks received:
PJ Washington
Ariel Hukporti (traded to Knicks on draft night)
If Hukporti ends up being a legitimate NBA player, perhaps the Mavericks will look foolish for trading him away, but the point is, the deal looks a bit better for the Hornets now.
Second-round picks are tough to hit on, especially super late in the draft, so the fact that Dallas didn’t want to keep Hukporti around isn’t super shocking.
However, it is another detail of the Washington-Mavericks-Hornets trade that has finally come to life. Hukporti technically could have been a Hornet, but they probably aren’t losing a ton of sleep over that.
Grant Williams and Seth Curry both played very well for Charlotte during their short stint there last season, and maybe whoever they draft in 2027 could end up being a useful player.
Only time will tell, but fans will have to wait a few years before seeing how the entire trade plays out.