Which ex-Charlotte Hornet is back 3 years after he was cast off over $4 million?
%20(1).JPG "Bismack Biyombo can add some rebounding and shot-blocking for the Charlotte Hornets, but his offensive game is very limited.")
Three years ago, the Charlotte Hornets decided Bismack Biyombo wasn’t worth a $4 million qualifying offer. Saturday, that same franchise committed to paying Biyombo $34 million.
The Hornets, Orlando Magic and Chicago Bulls completed a trade late Saturday that sends center Biyombo back to Charlotte, where his NBA career started in 2011. The Hornets are sending newly-acquired center Timofey Mozgov to the Magic and Julyan Stone’s unguaranteed $1.6 million contract to the Bulls.
The Hornets also will receive a second-round pick in each of the 2019 and 2020 drafts.
Biyombo’s and Mozgov’s contracts roughly match. Biyombo has this season and next season left on his contract, paying him $17 million each of those seasons.
The Hornets (then-Bobcats) originally traded for the draft rights to Biyombo, who was selected seventh overall in 2011 by the Sacramento Kings. That was two picks before the Bobcats selected future All-Star Kemba Walker.
Biyombo, a native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a rim-protector. So he could make up for some of what the Hornets had defensively before trading center Dwight Howard to the Brooklyn Nets Friday in the deal that sent Mozgov to Charlotte. Biyombo, 6-foot-9, has averaged 1.4 shots blocked and 6.5 rebounds over his seven NBA seasons.
However, Biyombo will get plenty of competition for minutes at center with the Hornets. Coach James Borrego has spoken positively about Cody Zeller, while Willy Hernangomez changed plans to be with the Spanish national team to play on the Hornets’ summer-league team.
Biyombo played his first four NBA seasons in Charlotte before the Hornets chose not to extend him a qualifying offer in the summer of 2015 that would have restricted his free agency. Biyombo then signed with the Toronto Raptors and played so well in a playoff appearance the next season that the Magic signed him to a four-year $68 million contract.
Former Hornets general manager Rich Cho was instrumental to the original decision to add Biyombo, who played professionally in Spain before entering the NBA. Mitch Kupchak was hired in April to replace Cho as Hornets GM.
While Biyombo would provide some defense and rebounding, he is a limited offensive player (career 5.0 points per game) in an NBA increasingly moving toward big men who can score outside the lane. Biyombo has no real shooting range beyond 3 feet from the rim.
A major factor in this trade was Orlando’s desire to add size at point guard: The Bulls sent Jerian Grant to the Magic to compete with D.J. Augustin. That would provide the size that former Hornets coach Steve Clifford, now coaching the Magic, prefers in his point guard mix.
This story was originally published July 8, 2018 at 2:01 AM with the headline "Which ex-Charlotte Hornet is back 3 years after he was cast off over $4 million?."