Hornets Rumors

Ja Morant, Kendrick Nunn Headline All-Rookie Team

Grizzlies guard Ja Morant, who previously won the Rookie of the Year award, was the only player unanimously selected to this year’s All-Rookie First Team, the league announced in a press release.  A panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters selected the team.

Heat guard Kendrick Nunn collected the second-most First Team votes (98) and total points (197). Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke, Pelicans forward and top overall draft pick Zion Williamson, and Warriors forward Eric Paschall rounded out the First Team.

Morant and Clarke became the first Grizzlies duo named to the All-Rookie First Team since the 2001/02 season, when Pau Gasol and Shane Battier earned the honor. Nunn is the first Heat player named to the First Team since Michael Beasley in 2008/09.

Heat guard Tyler Herro, Raptors guard Terence Davis II, Bulls guard Coby White, Hornets forward P.J. Washington, and Wizards forward Rui Hachimura gained All-Rookie Second Team honors.

Knicks wing and third overall pick RJ Barrett finished 13 points behind Hachimura for the final spot on the Second Team, with Sixers forward Matisse Thybulle narrowly missing a spot as well.

The voting was conducted based on regular-season games played prior to the restart.

NBA’s Bottom Eight Teams Gearing Up For Group Workouts

Monday, September 14 marks the first day of the three-week offseason workout window for the NBA’s bottom eight teams. The first phase of these de facto training camps will last for one week, through next Monday. During that time, activities will continue to be limited to individual workouts, as participants begin being tested daily for the coronavirus.

After one week, once participating players have returned multiple negative COVID-19 tests – or have been quarantined if they test positive – the second phase of the camps will take place in bubble-type environments. Group workouts, including practices and intra-squad scrimmages, will be permitted during the next two weeks as coronavirus testing continues.

The eight teams not invited to Orlando – the Warriors, Timberwolves, Cavaliers, Hawks, Knicks, Pistons, Bulls, and Hornets – won’t congregate at a single site like the top 22 teams did at Walt Disney World. Their “bubbles” will be created in their respective markets.

[RELATED: Eight Teams Left Out Of Restart To Conduct Workouts At Home Sites]

For instance, as K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago writes, the Bulls will stay at a downtown hotel and will be transported back and forth between there and the Advocate Center. The Hawks, meanwhile, are working to secure their players a hotel that has not yet opened to help avoid any outside contact, per Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The other clubs will make similar arrangements.

These workouts – both the individual sessions this week and the group activities beginning next week – are entirely voluntary. However, since these players have been unable to take part in organized basketball activities with teammates since March and are likely itching to get back on the court, there’s an expectation that attendance will be robust for most clubs.

Chris Kirschner of The Athletic reports, for example, that the Hawks anticipate all their core players – including Clint Capela – will take part in the camp. Jeff Teague is one of the only players not expected to participate, per Spencer, who notes that the veteran point guard is ticketed for free agency.

The Pistons are in a similar situation — James L. Edwards III of The Athletic reports that free-agent-to-be Langston Galloway isn’t expected to be in attendance, but most of the rest of the team’s players will participate.

There are some cases where players who could reach free agency in the coming months will take part in workouts. For instance, Marc Berman of The New York Post says that Bobby Portis and Taj Gibson will likely be in attendance for the Knicks. Portis has a pricey team option for 2020/21, while only $1MM of Gibson’s $9.45MM salary is guaranteed, so both vets could be let go by the team this fall.

Berman does caution that some veteran Knicks players intend to participate in individual workouts but won’t join the rest of the club in the “bubble.”

Teams that want to fill gaps on their roster and make sure they have enough players to hold intra-squad scrimmages will be able to invite players who suited up for their G League affiliates this past season. For example, Lindell Wigginton and Canyon Barry of the Iowa Wolves will join Minnesota for the team’s mini-camp at Mayo Clinic Square, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News.

With these offseason camps set to end on October 6 and the NBA Finals likely to wrap up shortly thereafter, the next time clubs meet for organized activities will presumably be for training camps at the start of the 2020/21 season.

Hornets Face Unique Offseason

  • The Hornets will have a uniquely fluid offseason, starting with a myriad of draft options with the No. 3 pick, writes Sam Vecenie of The Athletic. Guard LaMelo Ball, swingman Anthony Edwards, and center James Wiseman appear to be the consensus top three picks this year, though Vecenie notes that the Hornets might also want to consider trading the pick and a promising young Charlotte player to the Warriors or Timberwolves in order to move up in the draft.

Exploring Potential Trade Options for Nic Batum

  • In his latest mailbag, Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer explores if the Hornets could trade Nicolas Batum’s contract and potential draft options at No. 3 overall, among other topics. Bonnell believes that Batum, who is entering the final season of a five-year, $120MM deal, will likely stay in Charlotte. He details how the Hornets couldn’t trade Marvin Williams, who made $14MM last season — if Charlotte couldn’t move Williams’ contract, it will be hard to trade Batum, who will make $27MM next season.

2020 NBA Offseason Preview: Charlotte Hornets

Hoops Rumors is previewing the 2020 offseason for all 30 NBA teams. We’re looking at the key questions facing each club, as well as the roster decisions they’ll have to make this fall. Today, we’re focusing on the Charlotte Hornets.


Salary Cap Outlook

The Hornets’ salary cap flexibility has been limited for years due to pricey commitments to role players. While a couple of those contracts – Cody Zeller‘s and Nicolas Batum‘s – remain on the books for one more year, Charlotte is no longer on the hook for Bismack Biyombo, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, or Marvin Williams and will have a little cap room to work with as a result.

The exact amount of space the Hornets will have to work with will depend on where the cap lands and what they do with certain free agents and players with non-guaranteed salaries, but it projects to be in the $20MM range. They’ll also have the room exception available — it’ll be worth $4.77MM if the cap doesn’t increase.

Our full salary cap preview for the Hornets can be found right here.


Roster Decisions To Watch

Options:

  • Nicolas Batum, player option: $27,130,434 (Oct. 6 deadline)

Non-Guaranteed Contracts:

Two-Way Contracts:

Free Agents:


2020 Draft Assets

First Round:

  • No. 3 overall pick

Second Round:

  • No. 32 overall pick
  • No. 56 overall pick

With the possible exception of the Timberwolves, the Hornets were the biggest beneficiary in this year’s draft lottery. They entered the evening with the eighth-best odds, but moved up to the No. 3 spot in the draft and will have an opportunity to select one of the top prospects in this year’s class.

In the second round, the Hornets traded away their own pick (No. 38), but had acquired picks from the Cavaliers and Celtics at Nos. 32 and 56, respectively.


Three Key Offseason Questions

1. What will the Hornets do with the No. 3 overall pick?

A number of the Hornets’ fellow lottery teams – including the Timberwolves and Hawks – have one or two rising young stars to build around. That’s not the case in Charlotte, where no current Hornets players have ever made an All-Star team or averaged 20+ PPG in a season.

Charlotte could badly use some star power, and jumping up to No. 3 in the draft puts the franchise in position to secure a player with All-Star potential. LaMelo Ball is widely considered by draft experts to be the player with the highest ceiling among this year’s prospects, and there are plausible scenarios in which he could slip to No. 3, with Anthony Edwards and James Wiseman in play for the first two draft slots.

The Hornets’ top two scorers in 2019/20 – Devonte’ Graham and Terry Rozier – are also guards, but president of basketball operations Mitch Kupchak has repeatedly stated that he won’t let positional considerations impact his pick in this year’s lottery. And Graham and Rozier don’t have the same level of upside that Ball does.

If Ball comes off the board before the Hornets pick, Kupchak could instead turn to Wiseman, an athletic seven-footer who remains a work in progress on both ends of the floor, but has big-time potential as both a scorer and a rim protector. If he develops as planned, Wiseman could be Charlotte’s long-term answer in the middle.

Since Ball, Wiseman, and Edwards are widely considered to be the top three prospects in this year’s class, some interesting trade opportunities may arise for the Hornets — a team that covets one of those top three prospects could be willing to put together a significant trade package to move up.

Still, it’s worth recalling that one of Kupchak’s first moves when he took control of the Hornets’ front office in 2018 was to trade down one spot in the draft from No. 11 to 12, clearing the way for the Clippers to take Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Two years later, Gilgeous-Alexander is exactly the sort of rising star the Hornets could badly use, so Kupchak will be wary about missing out on a similar opportunity in 2020.

2. Will the Hornets be able to maximize their cap room on the trade market?

Kupchak has said multiple times in recent months that the Hornets don’t expect to be a major player in free agency this offseason. However, the team should still have in the neighborhood of $20MM in cap room — unless ownership doesn’t plan on spending to the league’s salary floor, that means the club will likely take advantage of its cap space on the trade market.

There are two directions the Hornets could go as they pursue trades. One would involve using their cap room to accommodate straight salary dumps in order to accumulate assets. The other would see them use their space to target a player who could become a long-term contributor.

Let’s run through both scenarios, starting with a potential salary dump. The idea here would be to take on unwanted salary along with a draft pick, allowing the Hornets’ trade partner to clear cap room of their own or avoid a pricey luxury tax bill. Last offseason, for instance, we saw the Grizzlies, Clippers, and Hawks acquire first-round picks for taking on Andre Iguodala, Maurice Harkless, and Allen Crabbe, respectively.

It’s a little too early to single out specific teams that could be willing to dump money to Charlotte this offseason, but a club like Philadelphia could fit the bill. The Sixers currently project to be a taxpayer in 2020/21 and have some exorbitant long-term contracts on their books. Maybe they’d be willing to give up a future first-round pick if the Hornets are willing to take on Al Horford‘s pricey multiyear deal in exchange for Cody Zeller‘s less expensive expiring contract.

On the other hand, the Hornets could single out specific players who would fit into their long-term plans and might be available via trade this offseason. Buddy Hield, Myles Turner, and Kelly Oubre are among the young, promising players who may be redundant on their current teams and could be nice fits in Charlotte.

Of course, in those examples, the Hornets would have to give up an asset or two of their own in a trade. If the ask is P.J. Washington or a future first-round pick, that might be a non-starter. But Charlotte could offer cap relief, Malik Monk, Cody Martin, second-round picks, or even a heavily-protected first-rounder — that might be enough to have a conversation about someone like Oubre.

3. Is a contract extension in play for Devonte’ Graham?

Graham’s breakout season in 2019/20 was one of the bright spots of the Hornets’ year and bodes well for the team’s developmental program. Graham – who averaged 18.2 PPG, 7.5 APG, and a .373 3PT% this season – is on a minimum-salary contract for one more year before becoming eligible for restricted free agency in 2021.

Rather than letting Graham play out that deal and risking him signing an expensive offer sheet next year, the Hornets may explore the possibility of a contract extension this offseason. It has now been more than two years since Graham originally signed with the club, so he’ll be extension-eligible throughout his contract year — a new deal signed this year would go into effect for the 2021/22 season.

Because he’s a minimum-salary player, Graham would be eligible for a starting salary worth up to 120% of the league’s estimated average salary. If the cap stays the same in 2020/21 as it was in ’19/20, that would translate to a maximum extension of $51.4MM over four years.

It’s possible Graham would rather bet on himself and try his luck in restricted free agency — that’s what Bogdan Bogdanovic did this past year when he received an identical extension offer from the Kings.

But Graham only really has a one-year track record so far. And unlike Bogdanovic, who made $8.5MM this season, he has only been a minimum-salary player since entering the NBA. A long-term deal worth nearly $13MM per year could sound awfully good to him, and it’s a pretty fair price for the Hornets, even if they don’t expect the 25-year-old to make another major leap within the next year or two.

Josh Richardson, Norman Powell, and Spencer Dinwiddie are among the players in recent years who have signed three- or four-year extensions worth 120% of the NBA’s average salary. I’d expect the Hornets to see whether Graham may want to follow suit this offseason.

Information from Basketball Insiders and ESPN was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Michael Jordan Acting As Key Liaison Between Players, Owners

His team hasn’t played a game since March, but Hornets owner Michael Jordan has emerged as an important go-between for NBA team owners and the players at the Walt Disney World campus, writes Jackie MacMullan of ESPN.

As MacMullan explains, Jordan is the NBA’s only Black majority owner, and his experience as a player allows him to connect with current players in a way that other franchise owners may not be able to. According to MacMullan, Jordan spoke to NBPA president Chris Paul before this morning’s player and owner meetings to get a better understanding of what players hope to achieve going forward.

“Michael is the perfect person to be in this role,” one league official told ESPN. “He’s been a high-profile player who has won championships. He’s also the owner of a small-market team. He has great credibility both with the players and the owners.”

During Thursday morning’s Board of Governors meeting, Jordan was a “voice of reason,” according to MacMullan, who says the former Bulls superstar urged his fellow owners to listen to players’ frustrations and concerns before offering their own solutions. League sources tell ESPN that team owners unanimously supported the players and spent much of their meeting discussing how to amplify player voices.

The NBPA had been scheduled to meet this afternoon at 4:00pm eastern time – with two or three reps from each team participating in the discussion – to iron out the issues they want to address with team owners, tweets Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. A meeting between players and owners will follow at 5:00pm, with Jordan – who is the chair of the labor relations committee – set to participate.

Reports have indicated that many players favored continuing the season due to the platform the restart has created to raise awareness of social injustices, and MacMullan writes that a number of owners – including Jordan – expressed a similar sentiment.

Of course, it’s worth noting that financial considerations will also incentivize the two sides to remain on the same page going forward. Sources tell The Athletic that players would have lost approximately 15% of this year’s salary if they’d chosen to end the season, and would have been risking about 35% of their salaries for next season. The lost revenues associated with a stoppage would have hit team owners hard as well.

Hornets Notes: Group Practices, G-League, No. 3 Pick, Free Agency

Though Hornets player attendance at the team’s practice facility has reportedly been strong, pending free agents, players who are not currently in Charlotte, and players who are concerned about COVID-19-related health risks might not participate in upcoming group practices, says Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer.

The NBA and NBPA agreed to let each of the so-called “Delete Eight” — the eight league-worst teams who missed out on the Orlando restart — to hold voluntary skill and conditioning sessions plus scrimmages at their facilities, with mandated campus living arrangements, from September 21 to October 6 after a week-long quarantine. Teams are allowed to invite five players who were with their affiliated G League club during the 2019/20 season.

Backup center Bismack Biyombo, earning $17MM this season, is the costliest free agent who is definitely coming off Charlotte’s books in October. Bonnell tweets that Biyombo’s fellow 2020 free agents on the roster, Dwayne Bacon and Willy Hernangomez, will most likely be advised by their representatives to either not participate at all or only partake in a limited amount of activities to avoid injury ahead of new potential contracts.

There’s more out of Charlotte:

  • Bonnell anticipates (Twitter link) that, among the prospective G-League players who may join the team’s fall offseason practices, Greensboro Swarm regulars Kobi Simmons, Joe Chealey and Ray Spalding seem most likely to get an opportunity to join the Hornets.
  • Hornets president of basketball operations and general manager Mitch Kupchak anticipates the Hornets to be able to select a “special” player with the No. 3 pick in this year’s NBA draft, according to The Charlotte Observer’s Rick Bonnell in another article. LaMelo Ball, James Wiseman, and Anthony Edwards headline this year’s draft class.
  • Kupchak noted last week that the Hornets, as a rebuilding team coming off a 23-42 record, would not be big players in free agency during the offseason.

2020 NBA Draft Picks By Team

In addition to claiming the top three spots in the 2020 NBA draft based on this year’s lottery results, the Timberwolves, Warriors, and Hornets are three of eight teams that will own more than two draft picks this fall.

As our full 2020 draft order shows, the Sixers lead the way with five picks, while the Kings, Pelicans, and Celtics have four apiece. Like Minnesota, Golden State, and Charlotte, the Knicks also hold three selections. On the other end of the spectrum, the Rockets are the only team without a 2020 draft pick.

To present a clearer picture of which teams are most – and least – stocked with picks for the 2020 NBA draft, we’ve rounded up all 60 picks by team in the space below. Let’s dive in…

Teams with more than two picks:

  • Philadelphia 76ers (5): 21, 34, 36, 49, 58
  • Sacramento Kings (4): 12, 35, 43, 52
  • New Orleans Pelicans (4): 13, 39, 42, 60
  • Boston Celtics (4): 14, 26, 30, 47
  • Minnesota Timberwolves (3): 1, 17, 33
  • Golden State Warriors (3): 2, 48, 51
  • Charlotte Hornets (3): 3, 32, 56
  • New York Knicks (3): 8, 27, 38

Teams with two picks:

  • Chicago Bulls: 4, 44
  • Atlanta Hawks: 6, 50
  • Washington Wizards: 9, 37
  • San Antonio Spurs: 11, 41
  • Orlando Magic: 15, 45
  • Portland Trail Blazers: 16, 46
  • Dallas Mavericks: 18, 31
  • Brooklyn Nets: 19, 55
  • Oklahoma City Thunder: 25, 53
  • Toronto Raptors: 29, 59

Teams with one pick:

  • Cleveland Cavaliers: 5
  • Detroit Pistons: 7
  • Phoenix Suns: 10
  • Miami Heat: 20
  • Denver Nuggets: 22
  • Utah Jazz: 23
  • Milwaukee Bucks: 24
  • Los Angeles Lakers: 28
  • Memphis Grizzlies: 40
  • Indiana Pacers: 54
  • Los Angeles Clippers: 57

Teams with no picks:

  • Houston Rockets

Timberwolves Win 2020 Draft Lottery; Warriors, Hornets, Bulls In Top Four

With Thursday night’s lottery results now official, the top 14 picks in the 2020 NBA draft have been set. The lottery order is as follows:

  1. Minnesota Timberwolves
  2. Golden State Warriors
  3. Charlotte Hornets
  4. Chicago Bulls
  5. Cleveland Cavaliers
  6. Atlanta Hawks
  7. Detroit Pistons
  8. New York Knicks
  9. Washington Wizards
  10. Phoenix Suns
  11. San Antonio Spurs
  12. Sacramento Kings
  13. New Orleans Pelicans
  14. Boston Celtics (from Memphis Grizzlies)

The Timberwolves, who entered the lottery with a 14.0% shot at the No. 1 overall pick, will get the opportunity to add a top prospect to a core that already includes D’Angelo Russell – the team’s draft representative on Thursday – and Karl-Anthony Towns, who is a former No. 1 pick himself.

Wolves president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas will face a fascinating decision with the No. 1 pick, since the 2020 draft class has no consensus top prospect — Anthony Edwards, James Wiseman, LaMelo Ball, and Obi Toppin are among the players expected to receive consideration at the top of the draft board. With Russell and Towns as anchors, some of those players look like better fits than others for Minnesota.

“We couldn’t be more pleased to land the first overall pick in this year’s draft, marking only the second time in franchise history,” Rosas said in a statement. “We are excited for the possibilities ahead of us to bring in a high caliber player now that we secured the first overall selection. As a front office, we are proud of what we’ve built here in Minnesota so far and we are looking forward to continuing to build upon that foundation in this year’s draft.”

The Warriors, who were tied with the Wolves for the lottery’s best odds, claim the No. 2 pick, which will give president of basketball operations Bob Myers and his team plenty of options this offseason. With Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson coming back from injuries, Golden State hopes to return to contention in 2020/21, so the club is expected to consider trading its lottery pick for immediate help if a favorable deal arises.

The Hornets and Bulls entered the lottery with the eighth- and seventh-best odds, so they got lucky in moving up to No. 3 and 4, respectively. Charlotte had a 6.7% shot at the No. 3 pick, while Chicago’s odds for No. 4 were 8.5%.

Charlotte is in rebuilding mode and president of basketball operations Mitch Kupchak has repeatedly stated that the club will prioritize adding the best player available rather than focusing on a specific need. New Bulls executive VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas has expressed a similar sentiment, and is in position to put a stamp on the franchise with a top-four pick in his first year on the job.

The Cavaliers are perhaps the biggest loser of the night, having slipped from second in the lottery standings to fifth. This will be the second consecutive year in which Cleveland has had the No. 5 overall pick — the club will look to add to a young core that features Collin Sexton and Darius Garland.

The Hawks, Pistons, and Knicks each slid two spots in the lottery to Nos. 6, 7, and 8, respectively. Those picks will represent the first draft picks for new Detroit general manager Troy Weaver and New York’s new president of basketball operations Leon Rose.

The remaining lottery selections – for the six lottery teams who were part of the NBA’s summer restart in Orlando – played out as expected. However, the Wizards‘ fate is worth noting — they technically finished with the league’s eighth-worst record, but were locked into the No. 9 spot in the lottery standings because the eight teams not invited to Orlando were assigned the top eight spots.

If the order had instead been based on records after the summer seeding games and the Wizards had entered the evening at No. 8 in the lottery standings, it would’ve been Washington – not Charlotte – that moved up to claim the third overall pick.

Assuming it’s not postponed again, the 2020 NBA draft will take place on October 16. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, teams are expected to have to make their picks without having evaluated any prospects in person for the last few months.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Eight Teams Left Out Of Restart To Conduct Workouts At Home Sites

The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association have finalized an agreement that will allow the eight teams who were not invited to Orlando to conduct voluntary group workouts at their team facilities, according to a league press release.

The teams will each reside in a campus-like environment under controlled conditions.  The agreement includes comprehensive health and safety protocols.

The workout program is scheduled to take place Sept. 14–Oct. 6 and will be implemented in phases.  The first phase, which will be held Sept. 14-2o, will consist of voluntary individual workouts at team facilities and the commencement of daily COVID-19 testing for all players and staff planning to participate in group workouts.

The second phase will occur from Sept. 21–Oct. 6. It will consist of group training activities in market, which may include practices, skill or conditioning sessions, and intra-squad scrimmages. Daily coronavirus testing will continue during that phase and each team will create its own campus-like environment in its home city.

The “campus” will include the team’s facilities and private living accommodations for all participating players and team staff.  In order to participate in group training activities, players and team staff must remain on the campus.

In addition to players under contract with the team, each of the eight teams may also include up to five players who are not currently under an NBA contract, but who were under an NBA G League contract and assigned to the team’s NBAGL affiliate this season.

Discussions about organized team activities (OTAs) – including group workouts and scrimmages – for those eight clubs have been ongoing for weeks. There was plenty of speculation that the teams would convene at one site but obviously both the league and NBAPA decided it would be easier and safer to keep the teams in their home cities.

The Warriors, Timberwolves, Cavaliers, Hawks, Pistons, Knicks, Bulls, and Hornets were the eight teams left out of the restart.