- Terry Rozier, the Hornets‘ big offseason acquisition, struggled in his debut on Wednesday and found himself on the bench down the stretch as Devonte’ Graham handled point guard duties, racking up 23 points and eight assists. That may not happen often, but James Borrego‘s decision to roll with Graham showed that the Hornets head coach is willing to make good on his preseason promise to dole out minutes based on performance, writes Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer.
The Hornets have picked up their rookie scale team options for 2020/21 on guard Malik Monk and forward Miles Bridges, tweets Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer. It’s Monk’s fourth-year option and Bridges’ third-year option.
[RELATED: Decisions On 2020/21 Rookie Scale Team Options]
Monk, the 11th overall pick in the 2017 draft, has yet to have the same kind of success at the NBA level that he did at Kentucky, averaging just 7.9 PPG on .377/.336/.871 shooting in 137 career games. He’s still just 21 years old though, and his 2020/21 option of $5,345,687 isn’t a major investment for the rebuilding Hornets. Monk will be eligible for a rookie scale extension 2020 and would be a restricted free agent in 2021 without a new deal.
Bridges, 21, was the 12th overall pick in the 2018 draft. In his rookie season, he averaged 7.5 PPG and 4.0 RPG in 80 games (21.2 MPG). He’ll likely play a key role for the team this season and is now locked in for $3,934,320 in 2020/21. The Hornets will have to make a decision on his 2021/22 team option by October 31, 2020.
Even with Monk and Bridges now on guaranteed salaries for ’20/21, the Hornets should be one of the few teams with a decent chunk of cap room available next summer. Currently, the club has approximately $76.3MM in guarantees on its books for next year, counting Nicolas Batum‘s $27MM+ player option.
OCTOBER 24: Batum is expected to be sidelined for approximately three or four weeks, league sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
OCTOBER 23: Hornets forward Nicolas Batum suffered a broken finger on his left hand during tonight’s season opener, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. The fracture is located at the base of the middle finger, according to Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer (Twitter link). The team hasn’t set an estimate for how much time he might miss.
Batum came off the bench in tonight’s game, playing 11 minutes before the injury. He grabbed four rebounds and handed out two assists, but didn’t attempt a shot.
Charlotte’s highest-paid player at more than $25.5MM, Batum has accepted a reserve role as the Hornets are launching a youth movement after losing star guard Kemba Walker in free agency. Bonnell notes that five of the team’s top seven salaries are not part of the starting lineup (Twitter link). Batum talked to coach James Borrego this week about his role on the team and said he doesn’t mind coming off the bench, tweets Rod Boone of The Athletic.
Batum is in the fourth season of a five-year, $120MM deal he signed with the Hornets in 2016. He has a $27.13MM player option for next season that he is virtually certain to pick up, considering his market value. Batum averaged 9.3 PPG in 75 games last season, his worst scoring numbers since his rookie year.
- Caleb Martin and Jalen McDaniels, who signed new multiyear contracts with the Hornets this week, each received $500K partial guarantees for 2019/20, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. Charlotte used its mid-level exception to lock up Martin for three years and McDaniels for four. Neither contract features any guaranteed money beyond this season.
- Echoing comments he made in September, Hornets president of basketball operations Mitch Kupchak reiterated this week that his club doesn’t plan to be an active player in 2020 free agency. “I think we can build a culture here and get enough assets and have a promising enough future and really attract the kind of free agent you want to spend that kind of money on,” Kupchak said. “But I don’t think you can do it right now.” As Marks recently pointed out (via Twitter), Charlotte is one of just four teams that projects to have significant cap room next summer.
- Hornets coach James Borrego is taking a different approach entering his second season with the team, asserting his authority more while ensuring that he remains a good listener and keeps a positive attitude, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer writes. “I feel like J.B. probably too much, to an extent, last (season) tried to keep everybody happy,” Marvin Williams said of Borrego. “I think this (season), he’s much more comfortable with people. He understands who we are as people and players. He’s just in a better place because of that.”
3:12pm: As noted as a possibility below, the Hornets have converted Simmons’ contract to a two-way deal, per an official release from the team.
3:10pm: Per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, Hornets rookie forward Jalen McDaniels, who just last night had his non-guaranteed one-year deal converted to a two-way contract, has now agreed to sign a partially guaranteed multi-year deal with the Hornets to finalize Charlotte’s 15-man roster.
Per Charania’s report, it appears that the Hornets will either waive Kobi Simmons or convert his deal to a two-way contract, but there has yet to be a report on that front. If Simmons is converted to a two-way deal, he’ll join Robert Franks as the team’s two two-way players to begin the 2019/20 season.
As for McDaniels, he goes from the last unsigned 2019 NBA Draft pick signed to a partially guaranteed contract holder in the span of 10 days. The 6’10” forward averaged 15.9 PPG, 8.3 RPG, and 2.1 APG in 34 games (31.0 MPG) for San Diego State last season.
The Hornets continue to tweak their roster in advance of the regular season deadline, announcing tonight in a press release that Jalen McDaniels has had his contract converted into a two-way deal.
Earlier on Saturday, Charlotte waived two-way player Ahmed Hill. Caleb Martin briefly replaced Hill in that two-way slot, but later returned to the regular roster by agreeing to a three-year contract. McDaniels and Robert Franks are now the Hornets’ two-way players.
The No. 52 overall pick in the 2019 draft, McDaniels was the last of this year’s draft picks to sign a contract, agreeing to a one-year, non-guaranteed pact with the club. Having that deal turned into a two-way contract will give the former San Diego State forward a chance to stick with the franchise through his rookie season — he’ll be eligible to spend up to 45 days with the Hornets, spending the rest of his time with the Greensboro Swarm, Charlotte’s G League affiliate.
McDaniels averaged 15.9 PPG, 8.3 RPG, and 2.1 APG in 34 games (31.0 MPG) in 2018/19. The Hornets faced some criticism in some circles for drafting the 6’10” forward, who has been sued by two former female high school classmates who claim that he recorded them without their consent while they were performing sexual acts.
Caleb Martin, whose Exhibit 10 contract was converted into a two-way deal with the Hornets earlier today, has agreed on a three-year pact with the team, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. The new arrangement will include a partial guarantee.
We told you earlier today that Charlotte is considering two-way deals with Kobi Simmons and Jalen McDaniels, so Martin may eventually be moved onto the regular roster. Robert Franks currently occupies the other two-way slot, while Simmons and McDaniels are still with the team on non-guaranteed deals.
Martin, a 24-year-old shooting guard, signed with the Hornets in July after going undrafted out of Nevada. He played there with his twin brother Cody Martin, who also won a roster spot after being selected by Charlotte with the 36th pick in this year’s draft.
After waiving two-way player Ahmed Hill earlier today, the Hornets have filled that newly-opened two-way slot by converting rookie forward Caleb Martin‘s Exhibit 10 deal into a two-way pact, the team announced in a press release.
It appears that Martin, whose twin brother Cody Martin was selected by the Hornets in the second round of this year’s draft, will remain on the same roster as Cody after playing with him at Nevada as well.
Caleb averaged 19.2 PPG, 5.1 RPG, and 2.8 APG in 34 games as a senior for the Wolf Pack. In five preseason games with the Hornets, he recorded 9.6 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 1.2 APG in 20.6 minutes per game.
While Martin and Robert Franks are occupying the Hornets’ two-way slots for the time being, that could change. Rod Boone of The Athletic tweeted earlier today that Kobi Simmons and Jalen McDaniels, who are currently on non-guaranteed contracts, are candidates to get two-way deals in Charlotte. Boone also hears that converting Martin to a two-way deal may be a procedural move to get him back on the regular roster on a new standard contract (Twitter link).
For now, the Hornets have 17 players under contract — 13 on guaranteed salaries, Simmons and McDaniels on non-guaranteed deals, and Martin and Franks on two-way pacts.
The Hornets have waived guard Ahmed Hill, according to a team press release.
Hill was signed to a two-way contract in early September, so this move opens up one of those slots.
The former Virginia Tech guard appeared in four preseason games, averaging 1.8 PPG in 5.7 MPG. After going undrafted, the 6’5” Hill joined the Nets’ Summer League roster and appeared in six games in Las Vegas, averaging 6.8 PPG on 44.8% shooting in 18.2 MPG.
He averaged 11.0 PPG, 3.4 RPG and 1.2 APG over 134 appearances in his four-year college career.
After waiving Hill, the Hornets’ roster stands at 17 players.