The Hornets didn’t provided a timeline for Gordon Hayward‘s recovery when they announced on Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with sprained ligaments in his left ankle, simply stating in their press release that he’ll be out indefinitely.
However, Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer hears from a league source that Hayward could be sidelined for upward of a month while he recovers from the injury and goes through a rehab process.
With Hayward potentially unavailable until March, Boone contends (via Twitter) that making the right trade at the deadline is even more important for the Hornets, who are in increasing danger of missing the playoffs after a five-game losing streak dropped them to ninth in the East. In a separate story for The Observer, Boone identifies several possible trade candidates for Charlotte, focusing primarily on centers.
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- Rookie Hornets guard James Bouknight downplayed his Saturday sideline confrontation with head coach James Borrego, referring to it as a “misunderstanding,” according to Steve Reed of The Associated Press. “We talked through it and it’s all good,” said Bouknight, who is not facing any disciplinary action from the team.
- Josh Robbins and The Athletic and Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington each take a look at what could be next for the Wizards, with Bradley Beal set to undergo season-ending wrist surgery. According to Robbins, Washington’s intentions of signing Beal to a long-term deal this summer when he can reach free agency haven’t changed.
- Chris Kirschner of The Athletic lays out what he would do at the trade deadline if he were running the Hawks, identifying Derrick White and Kenrich Williams as realistic trade targets and making the case for offering protected first-round picks for both players. An earlier report from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution suggested the Hawks may end up standing pat at Thursday’s deadline.
If the Hawks don’t make a move for Ben Simmons they could go & get the 0.5 speed version of Ben in Kyle Anderson. Memphis should be interested in a Gallinari & Luwawu-Cabarrot for Anderson & Culver deal. Memphis is playing great but they’re one of the worst 3pt shooting teams in the league. Adding Gallo helps them big time in that category. TLC is a good shooter too when he can catch & shoot & not have to get his own shot. As far as Atl, Culver could basically be our new version of Cam, a long, athletic, plus defender on the wing who can have scoring outbursts from time to time. Culver & Slo-Mo would both be defensive upgrades for a team that definitely needs to improve as a defensive unit. Plus we’d remain a great shooting team & get a guy that can do a lot (though clearly not everything) that Ben Simmons does without giving up a franchise cornerstone like John or a great rotational piece like Bogdan
as far as Ben I do still think the Hawks should get him as long as the price is around something like John/Gallo/1st/pick swap or even John/Bogdan/1st. I would really hate to trade John, he & Trae are such a great duo & he’s a great teammate & easy to root for but I mean Ben Simmons is even better than John & fits even better on this team than John does. Overall I see it as a good problem. We’ll be looking good now & in the future whether we trade for Ben or not unless we give up way too much which I highly doubt we will
No.
Kenrich Williams is criminally underated.
Love his game. Id love to see him in Atl but I wouldn’t give up a 1st for him