What a difference a year has made for the Charlotte Hornets. It wasn't that long ago when the Hornets won 43 games, good enough for a play-in berth. With the Hornets on an upward trajectory led by the nascent LaMelo Ball, it seemed like the only way to go for Michael Jordan's franchise was up.
However, the Hornets suffered one misfortune after another prior to the 2022-23 campaign. Not only did they lose Miles Bridges (perhaps even for good), their leading scorer last year, due to a disturbing controversy, they also lost Ball to an ankle injury in preseason. Thus, the Hornets' season was doomed before the season even began.
The silver lining in this scenario is that the Hornets picked the right time to be dreadful, with the arrival of Victor Wembanyama looming on the horizon. Moreover, the franchise's direction has become crystal clear as a result. The Hornets front office no longer needs to confront any delusions of grandeur; they should realize that their roster, as presently constructed, isn't nearly talented enough to become a sustained playoff contender.
Thus, success may only become available to the Hornets in the future, so why not jumpstart that process by acquiring even more assets or pieces who could grow alongside their young star in LaMelo Ball? As the legendary Dewey Wilkerson said, “the future is now, old man”.
And for the sake of the Hornets' prosperous future, they may need to let go of some pieces that remind them of their past, lest they regret it.
Here are moves the Hornets could end up regretting with the NBA trade deadline fast approaching.
Hornets will regret keeping Gordon Hayward and Mason Plumlee and trading away PJ Washington and Jalen McDaniels
The Hornets' status as sellers is crystal clear; it's only a matter of when, not if, their trade dominoes start to fall into each other, one by one. While the Hornets have plenty of pieces that could entice teams with playoff aspirations, they should focus their energy on dealing Gordon Hayward and Mason Plumlee, two aging players whose timelines don't align at all with that of Charlotte's.
Hayward in particular looks cooked; he is currently tallying his worst points per game average since the 2011-12 season (aside from his one game stint in the 2017-18 campaign), while his three-point shooting seems to have deserted him completely, as he's shooting a career-worst 29.9 percent from deep.
To make matters worse, Gordon Hayward is as injury prone as ever, having missed 26 of the Hornets' 53 games. Simply put, his $30.1 million salary for this year and $31.5 for next just seems to be too onerous a contract to stomach. His lack of durability is nothing new, but it's his lackluster performances relative to his eye-popping salary that makes him such an albatross for Charlotte at the moment.
Thus, it's unclear if Hayward even has any positive value in the trade market at the moment. But the Hornets should, at the very least, try to rid themselves of the 32-year old forward and see if there are any other teams looking to take a chance that Hayward could return to form. If not, the Hornets should just focus on the youth movement and bench him entirely, like the Houston Rockets did with John Wall.
On the other hand, Mason Plumlee is a far easier sell in a potential trade. Plumlee is currently shooting a career-best percentage from the field, in addition to career-bests in points and rebounds per game. And his left-handed free-throw shooting experiment has clearly worked, as he has bounced back from his nightmare charity stripe performance last season.
Simply put, for any team looking to bolster their frontcourt with a big man who could rebound and finish at the rim at a high level all the while remaining capable of functioning as a playmaking hub at the high post, Plumlee is their guy.
And with the 32-year old center set to enter free agency in a few months' time, it's clear what the Hornets must do. Moreover, they have Mark Williams, the 15th overall pick of the 2022 NBA Draft, ready to take over.
Meanwhile, amid the Hornets' rebuilding efforts, their willingness to trade away young pieces such as PJ Washington and Jalen McDaniels is a bit puzzling. After all, these two players are only 24 years old, and they profile as solid role players that could help Charlotte contend once they have the other necessary pieces in place.
Will the Hornets need to pony up for them in free agency? Perhaps. But having faith in their young guys' potential to get better is a much shrewder use of cap space, knowing their current situation. And even if they re-sign Washington and McDaniels to eight-figure deals, they should still remain tradeable if the Hornets continue to struggle. Thus, the Hornets should not make any rash decisions when it comes to these two forwards prior to the NBA trade deadline.
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