The Charlotte Hornets have been pretty quiet for the most part this offseason. Other than agreeing to a max extension with All-Star LaMelo Ball and bringing back Miles Bridges, after he sat out the entirety of the 2022-23 season due to domestic violence charges, the Hornets have not made many moves in NBA free agency.
With PJ Washington still unsigned, the Hornets added a new face to their locker room on Friday, as the team agreed to a one-year contract with former first-round pick Frank Ntilikina, first reported by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Ntilikina, 25, recently spent the last two seasons as a member of the Dallas Mavericks after previously spending the first four years of his career with the New York Knicks. He was the Knicks' eighth overall selection in the 2017 NBA Draft.
In Dallas, Ntilikina held a reserve role on the team's bench, averaging just 12.3 minutes per game in 105 regular season games. For his career, the French point guard has averaged 4.8 points and 2.2 assists per game while shooting 37.1 percent from the floor.
While he may not be much of a factor offensively, Charlotte's new guard has made a name for himself by being a strong on-ball defender who uses his length to disrupt passing lanes. This is one of the reasons why Dallas had kept him on their roster the last couple of seasons.
The addition of another guard behind Ball is not a surprising move by the Hornets, especially since Dennis Smith Jr. left in free agency to join the Brooklyn Nets and since the team has not retained Theo Maledon. Ntilikina will likely hold some type of role where he sees 10-15 minutes off-the-bench during the 2022-23 season, but he is unlikely to take minutes away from veteran guard Terry Rozier or rookie first-round pick Nick Smith Jr.
The Hornets are entering a new era, as Michael Jordan recently sold his majority stakes in the franchise after taking over controlling interest of the organization in 2010. Success has been hard to come by in Charlotte through the years, though. They have made the playoffs just twice in the last 13 seasons and the Hornets went 27-55 this past year, the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference.