The Charlotte Hornets are entering an offseason where they should be hoping to improve. They’ve been at the bottom of the totem pole for too long. It’s time to move on up.
They hired well-respected Boston Celtics assistant coach Charles Lee to be their new head coach, and they have the sixth pick in the draft. They have already begun making improvements.
Now, they will head into the summer hoping to nail their pick, make effective free agency signings, and trade for players who could help the team.
With that in mind, they could look to ship off some of their own guys, too. Here are three players the Hornets need to trade, and two who are untouchable.
Hornets need to trade: Seth Curry
This has nothing to do with who Seth Curry is as a player. To be honest, he’s a solid fit with the Hornets. He can shoot the three-ball well, and that’s an important skill to have on any team.
But he’s in the final year of his deal, and getting the most value out of him should be a top priority unless he wants to stick around long-term.
There’s a chance that Curry wants to stay in Charlotte and follow in his dad’s footsteps, but if he’s thinking about leaving next summer, the Hornets should trade him this offseason so the options of landing spots are more vast.
The veteran guard is a fun story due to Dell Curry’s place in the organization, but trading him for some sort of value would be smart.
Hornets untouchable: Mark Williams
Barring an insane offer, the Charlotte Hornets should not be looking to trade the 22-year-old big man. Mark Williams should be considered a staple of the organization moving forward.
Williams missed a ton of games in his sophomore season, but at the beginning of the year, when he finally got a chance to be a focal point of the rotation, he was great.
His defensive impact was clear as day, and next to LaMelo Ball, his freakish athleticism made him a constant lob threat, providing the Hornets with some great vertical spacing.
The fact that Williams has already dealt with significant injuries this early in his career could be a bit of a red flag, but that’s not nearly enough for them to consider moving on from him already.
Williams still has a ton of room to grow, and he’s far from being a star in the NBA, but he’s young enough and talented enough to the point where he wouldn’t be worth giving up for most of the things other teams would be willing to offer the Hornets.
Keeping him around and developing him into a legitimate defensive anchor with some alley-oop pop is the path the Hornets should be taking.
Hornets need to trade: Vasilije Micić
When the Charlotte Hornets traded Gordon Hayward to the Oklahoma City Thunder at the 2024 trade deadline, they got back a few different pieces in the deal.
Tre Mann ended up being a solid starting guard for Charlotte as they enjoyed a tank in the latter half of the year, and Davis Bertans found his three-point stroke a little bit.
Meanwhile, Vasilije Micić ended up being a legitimately solid backup point guard for the Hornets, giving them solid minutes and acting as one of their best facilitators.
It could be a good idea for them to keep him around and continue to play him in that role, but instead of that, they should look to trade him for a couple of reasons.
On the one hand, Micic is on a fair contract, sitting at $7.7 million next year and an $8.1 million team option the following year. As much as that could be great for the Hornets, contending teams could be fiending to add a quality player on a cheap deal. Charlotte should capitalize on that value.
Second of all, while his contract is great, Micic also makes enough that the Hornets could package him into a larger deal. Combining his salary and someone else’s, like Davis Bertans, could help the Hornets land a stud to help LaMelo Ball moving forward.
Hornets untouchable: Brandon Miller
This may be controversial, but Brandon Miller and Mark Williams should be more untouchable than LaMelo Ball is. Obviously, Ball is better than both of them right now, but he has some other problems.
Most notably, he can’t stay on the court. He hasn’t cracked the 40-game mark in either of the last two seasons. And on top of that, he’s constantly involved in some questionable off-the-court activities.
As for Miller, he just wrapped up an impressive rookie season that saw him finish third in Rookie of the Year voting. He should be a focal point of the Hornets’ rebuild moving forward.
When Charlotte selected him second overall in the 2023 NBA Draft, some people questioned their decision to pass on Scoot Henderson. Well, their selection is looking great right now.
At his size, Miller has the potential to be one of the best wings in the NBA. He’s a great scorer, he can drive to the rim with ferocity, and his defense could be an awesome weapon for him as well.
Every team in the league wants to add talent on the wing and at the forward position. Miller is the perfect outline of what teams around the NBA want on their team.
Hornets need to trade: Davis Bertans
While the reason for Davis Bertans being on this list may seem obvious at first glance, it’s not the one most people would think of when they discuss whether or not the Charlotte Hornets should move Davis Bertans.
Bertans joined the Hornets in the same Gordon Hayward trade that saw Vasilije Micić and Tre Mann head to Charlotte at the deadline, all coming from the Oklahoma City Thunder.
For the past few seasons, Bertans has been getting almost zero playing time. The Washington Wizards handed him a massive contract, but his three-point shooting escaped him after that.
However, during his time with the Hornets, he rediscovered his stroke a bit, and if that continued, he could actually be a decent rotation piece for Charlotte.
But the reason the Hornets need to trade Bertans has nothing to do with his play. It has everything to do with his contract.
The Latvian forward is set to make $16 million next season. Combined with another salary or two, the Hornets could use Bertans to land a great player.
Charlotte needs to be focused on improving, and one of the best ways they could do that would be to trade Bertans’ salary with others in an attempt to land another star-caliber player (or someone close to that).