Hornets draft Mark Williams from Duke and trade another first-round pick
The Charlotte Hornets selected a pair of big men in Thursday night’s NBA draft. But for now, only one of them actually has a chance of sticking around.
Stocked with two first-round picks, the Hornets selected Memphis’ Jalen Duren 13th overall Thursday before grabbing Duke’s Mark Williams No. 15 overall.
Immediately after making the initial pick, though, Charlotte traded the 6-foot-11, 250-pound Duren to New York, league sources confirmed to The Charlotte Observer, before the Knicks moved him to Detroit as part of a larger package that included former Hornet Kemba Walker going to the Pistons. As compensation, the Hornets received Denver’s 2023 first-round pick, 2023 second-round picks from the Knicks, Utah and either Dallas or Miami, depending which is more favorable. They also received New York’s 2024 second round pick, league sources told the Observer.
After completing that trade, the Hornets were back on the clock, taking Williams from Duke. The 6-foot-11 big man had an individual workout with the Hornets earlier this month and gives them an inside presence, filling one of their needs heading into a critical offseason.
In the second round, the Hornets swung another trade, swapping picks with Minnesota to climb up to No. 40 from No. 45. They selected Nebraska combo guard Bryce McGowens, also surrendering the 2023 second-round pick they acquired earlier in the night from the Knicks to complete the deal, league sources told The Observer.
But the prize of the night was Williams.
“In Chicago, we met with him,” Hornets General Manager Mitch Kupchak said. “We had like a 40-minute interview, got to know the kid a little bit. And you’ll get to know him and like him. He’ll fit in well with what we are trying to do here from the locker room perspective. He’ll fit in well.”
Still, it’s a bit of a surprise the Hornets even used one of their selections. Coming into the draft, there was chatter indicating the Hornets were looking to be active in the trade market.
One report even suggested they were trying to package one or both picks with Gordon Hayward to shed his salary and give them some cap relief. Hayward, who has played in a combined 93 games in his two seasons in Charlotte, has two years and $61.5 million remaining on the four-year, $120 million contract he inked prior to the 2020-21 season.
Moving Hayward’s deal would give them financial flexibility, but it won’t be easy due to many teams not possessing a ton of cap space this offseason. So the Hornets instead focused on smaller transactions during draft night and had their share of options.
“The whole thing was pretty complicated because we had two picks and we had multiple on-the-clock deals in play,” Kupchak said. “We could have kept 13 and traded 15 and, as it turns out, we traded 13 and kept 15. Part of our feeling was with three rookies last year, adding 13 and 15, it just might be too much to have five young players under 21 on a team that we are expecting to make a jump. I don’t know if that means 43 wins to 45 wins. Who knows, right?
“But we don’t want to go backward developing players. You just can’t do that. We are at the stage where we want to make a jump. A small market team, we have to continue to take swings with the draft. That’s the only way we can get a player that is extraordinary. But we didn’t feel using both picks was prudent.”
This story was originally published June 23, 2022 at 9:36 PM.
