As one of the smallest market teams in the NBA, the Hornets – or the Bobcats – have not often been the number one choice for free agents. More often they're forced to develop their own talent through the draft or make savvy moves at the trade table, and this inability to attract free agents has certainly made it more difficult for the franchise to achieve success. Over the course of their 35-year history, however, they have still managed to pluck a few decent players out of free agency. These are the seven best of them.
7. Kelly Oubre Jr. (2021)
Oubre Jr. signed with the Hornets after seven seasons with the Wizards, Suns and Warriors, and has arguably played the best basketball of his career while in Charlotte. He came primarily off the bench in his first season with the team and averaged 15.0 points and 4.0 rebounds, but last year he was moved into the starting lineup for 40 of his 48 games – he missed a number of games through a hand injury – and for the first time in his career averaged in excess of 20 points. He's far from perfect and his shooting in particular needs work, but his energy and ability to score in bunches has helped to make this Hornets team a reasonably exciting one to watch, even if they don't win very often. Whether he hangs around remains to be seen, but if he does for a few more years – and particularly if the Hornets can climb their way up the standings – he will likely make his way further up this list.
6. Bobby Phills (1997)
After six seasons with the Cavaliers, Bobby Phills signed with the Hornets in 1997 and immediately made an impact, averaging 10.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game in his first season with the team as the team finished fourth in the East and made their way into their second ever Conference Semi-Finals. He improved his output further over the next couple of seasons; in 1999 he averaged 14.3 points while shooting 39.5% from downtown, and above and beyond those numbers he was also an excellent defender for the team. In 1999-00 he was on track for similar numbers, but tragically he was killed in a car accident during the season. Less than a month after his death, Phills' #13 jersey was retired by the team, marking the first time that they had ever retired a jersey.
5. Marvin Williams (2014)
Despite being a number two pick back in 2005 Marvin Williams was no superstar, but after signing with the Hornets as a free agent in 2014 he went on to become a reliable member of their squad for the next six seasons. Initially signed on a two-year, $14 million deal, his second season was a particularly good one, and his solid play as the team's starting power forward helped them return to the playoffs with 48 wins after winning just 33 the season prior. That was enough for the Hornets to want to hang onto him, and he was subsequently signed to a four-year deal worth $56 million. He played out those four seasons for the team while providing similar output to what he did in his second season there. After six seasons in Charlotte, however, he was waived by the team before joining the Bucks, but his career was all but over by that point and he played just 17 games for his new team before retiring.
4. Gordon Hayward (2020)
Gordon Hayward's time with the Celtics – with whom he signed after seven seasons with the Jazz – didn't go exactly as planned, starting off with the broken leg he sustained in the opening minutes of his first game with the team. That saw him miss his entire first season with the team and in the second he was a shadow of his former self, but his third year in Boston saw him return to something resembling the All-Star he was in Utah, and it was then that he made his way to Charlotte in what was essentially a sign-and-trade. That contract was worth $120 million over four years, and though the value of that contract may be questionable given that he's been consistently injured throughout his first three seasons with the team, but his output when on the court has been pretty solid. His first season was particularly good – he averaged 19.6 points while shooting over 41% from three-point range, and though those numbers have dwindled a little over the past couple of seasons he's still been a consistent scoring threat and veteran presence on a young team. He's now 33 years of age, but if he remains with the team for a couple more years and can continue to produce at a decent level, he may well climb further up this list.
3. Johnny Newman (1990)
Johnny Newman was one of the inaugural big free agent signings for the Hornets, joining the team in what was just their third season in the league. In their first two, they'd won a combined total of just 39 games, but he helped to gradually drag them up the standings to the point where they won 44 games in his third season there and made their first ever playoffs appearance. Incidentally, that was the worst of his three seasons with the team – after averaging 16.9 and then 15.3 points in his first two, he managed just 11.9 per game in less minutes in his third. His impact on the young franchise, however, was unequivocal. He played 18 games for the Hornets in 1993-94, but partway through that season was shipped off to the New Jersey Nets.
2. Al Jefferson (2013)
Big Al Jefferson signed with the Hornets ahead of his tenth season in the league, and his presence had an immediate impact on the team. After winning just 21 games the season before he joined, they added more than double that number the next year to jump into the playoffs with 43 wins. That was in no small part thanks to Jefferson. He averaged 21.8 points on over 50% shooting while also grabbing 10.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists, and he was rewarded with his first and only All-NBA Third Team as a result. Unfortunately his numbers began to dwindle thereafter as he hit his 30s, to 16.6 and 8.4 in his second season with the team and then 12.0 and 6.4 in his third and final. But All-NBA Team members are a rarity in Charlotte, and even more so those picked up in free agency. For Jefferson to come in and make the impact that he did, particularly after the team had won 21 games the season before and an incredible seven the season before that, made him one of the best free agent signings in the history of the franchise.
1. David Wesley (1997)
Though the Hornets have not enjoyed a lot of success during their history, the late 1990s and early parts of the 2000s was the one period of time in which they were a consistently good team. David Wesley, who was signed in 1997, was a major part of that. He would go on to play five seasons with the team, during which they made four playoff appearances and three times made it through to the Conference Semi-Finals. Incidentally, in 35 years they've only made that stage four times. Wesley was a consistent scorer and reliable facilitator for the Hornets – in his first couple of seasons he averaged 6.5 assists per game while scoring over 13 points, before the assists numbers dropped and the points numbers rose over the next couple of years. At the time of writing, he is ranked seventh in minutes played for the franchise, fourth in assists, sixth in steals and ninth in total points. Not bad for a guy signed as a free agent. Though Wesley doesn't get a huge amount of recognition, he was a really important player in the history of the Hornets, and is clearly the best free agent signing that they have ever made.
Follow Us
Subscribe