Hornets activity at NBA trade deadline gives insight into franchise’s immediate path
Editor’s note: This story was posted after the Hornets and Lakers finalized and announced their trade, but before the Lakers subsequently rescinded the trade due to problems with a player’s physical exam.
When the shockwaves traveled across the Mississippi River and over the Sierra Nevada in the wee hours Thursday morning, and things slowly settled down, the vision became clearer than mountain spring water.
In sending starting center Mark Williams to the Los Angeles Lakers for Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish and draft pick compensation, the Charlotte Hornets did more than just amp up a championship-starved fan base in California spoiled by success throughout nearly every decade since the 1980s.
It started a chain reaction that will likely reverberate into the summer.
Although the Hornets haven’t been mathematically eliminated from the postseason, it’s only a matter of weeks before the NBA’s longest current playoff drought swells to nine years, a miserable stretch that at times feels as if there’s no end. Shipping Williams out of town signals the Hornets’ hierarchy didn’t fully believe in the long term success and viability of the ‘Core Four.’
Really, how could they?
Over the last two years, the group had more starts and stops than the Daytona 500, far too often missing at least one member. Taking the most durable player — Miles Bridges — out of the equation, the trio of Williams, LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller played together in just 18 of a possible 130 games combined over the past two seasons.
So instead of riding it out, president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson kept to the same script that he’s followed since officially coming on board in March: collect assets. And plenty of them, eventually to use the cache for a prize.
That late-night trade of Williams necessitated the acquisition of Jusuf Nurkic prior to Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, which also brought along a 2026 first-round pick from Phoenix in exchange for Cody Martin, Vasa Micić and a 2026 second-round selection. And with only $6.9 million of his $17.9 million salary for 2025-26 guaranteed, Nurkic is likely a stopgap until the Hornets’ brain trust can find another big man that fits the vision of coach Charles Lee.
By adding to a treasure trove of assets, Peterson is positioning the Hornets to be in the conversation and at the table in the offseason trade market, when player movement is often more calculated.
On top of controlling their own first-round pick beyond the next half-decade, the Hornets also now boast that 2026 first-rounder from the Suns, a 2027 top-14 protected pick from Miami, a top-two protected selection from Dallas in 2027, rights to swap first-round picks with Los Angeles in 2030 and a 2031 unprotected first-round selection from the Lakers.
Sure, they are left searching for the team’s future center yet again, a seemingly recurring theme that led to the Hornets making that draft day trade in 2022, getting Williams from Detroit for Jalen Duren. But they have a yeoman’s amount of draft capital at their disposal to mine for someone to plug into a lineup featuring Ball, Miller and Knecht — three players who can assist everyone in the spacing department just based on their individual skillsets.
Williams had the potential to be that guy. However, a combination of inconsistency, injuries and some defensive question marks paired with an opportunity to get Knecht — considered one of the best rookies in his class, ahead of Tidjane Salaün — and add to the picks Peterson has already lassoed spurred things quickly in the opposite direction.
That’s why aside from continuing to build some sort of new culture and keeping everyone healthy, the next two months are all about gliding onto the landing strip in smooth fashion in July, setting things up for a run in 2025-26. Perhaps by then, the Hornets will have the likes of Duke’s Cooper Flagg or either Rutgers’ Ace Bailey or Dylan Harper on the roster, too.
It’s already trending in that direction given the Hornets enter Friday with the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference and are on track to easily finish among the bottom four teams in the league. They’re staring maybe, at worst, a 12.5% shot at securing the top pick in June’s draft and could very well end up tied with the best odds at 14% if things don’t drastically change.
Add it all up and another franchise-defining offseason beckons.
This story was originally published February 7, 2025 at 5:15 AM.
