Charlotte Hornets Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Hornets Sign Tony Parker

July 23rd, 2018 at 2:09pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 23: The Hornets’ deal with Parker is now official, the team confirmed today in a press release.

“We are thrilled to add a player of Tony’s caliber and experience to our roster,” GM Mitch Kupchak said in a statement. “We believe his track record of success and playoff resume will add backcourt depth to our roster and veteran leadership to our group. Parker’s experience with Head Coach James Borrego will be an invaluable asset to us moving forward as well. We are excited to welcome Tony to Charlotte and for him to continue his Hall-of-Fame career with the Hornets.”

JULY 6: After spending 17 seasons in San Antonio, Tony Parker will head to Charlotte for the 2018/19 season. The veteran point guard has reached an agreement to sign with the Hornets, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).

Parker will sign a two-year, $10MM contract with the Hornets, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). A tweet from Charlotte forward Nicolas Batum first hinted that Parker – Batum’s teammate on the French national team – would join the franchise.

The Hornets had been on the lookout for a backup point guard after struggling to find consistent production behind Kemba Walker in recent years. Parker, 36, will provide a steady presence at that spot, though he’s no longer the impact player he once was. In 2017/18, the longtime Spur lost his starting job to Dejounte Murray and averaged a career-low 7.7 PPG and 3.5 APG in 55 games (21 starts).

As Jabari Young of The San Antonio Express-News tweets, there were about five or six teams interested in Parker, but he chose the Hornets because the team sold him on more playing time and a significant role.

Parker’s departure is the latest development in what has been an unusually dramatic year in San Antonio. The Spurs will now be without a point guard who first joined the franchise back in 2001 and has appeared in more than 1,400 total regular season and postseason games with the team.

According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Parker called Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich within the last hour to inform him of his plan to head to Charlotte. Although the Spurs wanted Parker back, the veteran will reunite with former San Antonio assistant James Borrego, who was hired as the Hornets’ head coach this spring.

This is the second time in recent years that a club headed by a former Spurs assistant has made a play for a longtime Spur. The Sixers and Brett Brown were unable to lure Manu Ginobili to Philadelphia in 2016, but Borrego and the Hornets were able to secure Parker’s services this time around.

Parker’s deal figures to be completed using a portion of the Hornets’ mid-level exception, since the team is over the cap. The trade that sent Dwight Howard to Brooklyn helped Charlotte create the flexibility to complete a signing like this one without going into tax territory.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Hornets' Second-Rounder Kulboka To Play In Germany

July 23rd, 2018 at 12:52pm CST by Luke Adams

Lithuanian forward Arnoldas Kulboka is back with German club Brose Bamberg after being loaned to Orlandina in Italy last season, according to an announcement from the team (hat tip to Sportando). Kulboka was selected by the Hornets with the 55th overall pick in the 2018 draft, so Charlotte will retain his NBA rights and could have the opportunity to bring him stateside in a future season.

International Notes: Perrantes, Ennis, Martin, Henderson

July 22nd, 2018 at 11:31am CST by Arthur Hill

Two European teams are hoping to sign former Cavaliers two-way player London Perrantes, according to Nicola Lupo of Sportando. The French club Limoges has expressed interest in Perrantes, who received a two-year offer on Friday from Olimpia Milano in Italy, which plans to loan him to VL Pesaro during his first season.

Cleveland waived the 23-year-old point guard last month after one season with the organization. Perrantes appeared in 14 games for the Cavs and averaged less than five minutes per night. His G League numbers were much better as he posted an 11.9/3.4/7.8 line while starting 35 games for the Canton Charge.

A four-year player at Virginia, Perrantes got the opportunity in Cleveland just before the start of last season. Prior to that, he had been signed and waived by the Spurs.

There’s more overseas news to pass along:

Former Laker Tyler Ennis‘ decision to sign with Fenerbahce is examined by Kostas Giataganas of Eurohoops. Ennis will join ex-Spur Joffrey Lauvergne on the Turkish club and will follow his brother Dylan, who played in Europe last season. Ennis was waived by the Lakers in June before his $1.7MM contract for next season became guaranteed. He appeared in 54 games for L.A. last year, averaging 4.1 points per night.
Hassan Martin, who had an impressive performance with the Celtics‘ summer league team, is headed to Germany, Lupo relays in a separate piece. The former Rhode Island forward averaged 10 points and six rebounds per game in Las Vegas. He played in Japan last year.
Former Hornets G Leaguer Terry Henderson has signed with Scaligera Verona in Italy, also according to Lupo. The one-time North Carolina State guard averaged 11.3 points in 42 games with the Greensboro Swarm last season.

Hornets To Sign Isaiah Wilkins To Camp Deal

July 21st, 2018 at 3:58pm CST by clarkcrum

The Hornets have agreed to a training camp deal with Isaiah Wilkins, the stepson of NBA legend Dominique Wilkins, reports Michael Scotto of The Athletic.

Wilkins averaged 6.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.2 steals as a senior last season at Virginia before being named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year. He managed to shoot 48.5% from the field but only a disappointing 17.6% from three.

While it’s unlikely that Wilkins ends up on the Hornets’ 15-man regular season roster, he’s probably a good bet to end up playing for the team’s G League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm.

Julyan Stone Signs Deal With Reyer Venezia

July 21st, 2018 at 1:24pm CST by clarkcrum

After being traded from the Hornets to the Bulls and then waived in order to make room for the Jabari Parker signing, Julyan Stone is heading back to Italy, having signed a contract with his former club, Reyer Venezia, per Sportando (Twitter link).

Stone, 29, went undrafted in 2011 before signing a two-year deal with the Nuggets. He signed a one-year contract with the Raptors for the 2013/14 season and then spent several seasons overseas before coming back to the NBA in 2017, signing a two-year contract with the Hornets.

During his four-season NBA career, Stone has only averaged 1.1 points in 7.2 minutes per game, but has appeared in 70 total contests. He will look to help Reyer reclaim the Lega Basket Serie A title after helping them win the championship in 2017.

Atlantic Notes: Smart, Raptors’ Tax, Trier, Scariolo

July 20th, 2018 at 10:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Guard Marcus Smart seriously considered signing his $6.1MM qualifying offer from the Celtics and becoming an unrestricted free agent next summer, Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald tweets. “I went back and forth internally, but it’s a problem a lot of people would like to have.” Smart said. “I definitely thought about taking the qualifying offer, but all my options were open.”

Smart wound up staying in Boston on a four-year, $52MM deal. “To be honest, I didn’t know where I was gonna end up. I was just enjoying this whole process,” he told The Associated Press. “It is a business, so things aren’t perfect. That’s why it’s called negotiations. You guys come together and you finally agree on something. We both agreed. Boston loves me and I love Boston.”

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

The Raptors continue to explore moves to shed salary and get under the luxury-tax line, Ian Begley of ESPN tweets. The Raptors still have over $137MM in salary commitments following the Kawhi Leonard deal and are nearly $14MM over the tax threshold.
Allonzo Trier has an outside chance to gain a spot on the 15-man Knicks roster after a solid showing in summer-league action, Marc Berman of the New York Post reports. Trier, an undrafted guard out of Arizona, has a two-way contract but if he makes a strong impression in training camp, it could be converted to a standard contract. The Knicks waived forward Troy Williams this week, trimming their 15-man roster to the league limit, and could open up another spot if they waive Joakim Noah and utilize the stretch provision for the remaining money on his bloated deal.
Italian head coach Sergio Scariolo is close to joining Nick Nurse‘s Raptors staff, according to a Sportando report. Scariolo, who is also the Spanish national team coach, has been offered a position but needs to work out a settlement with the Spanish federation, since he has a contract with it until 2020. The situation is expected to be resolved, Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun relays. The Hornets were also interested in hiring Scariolo, Wolstat adds.

Kemba Walker Doubts He’ll End Up With Knicks

July 16th, 2018 at 6:01pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kemba Walker wants to stay long-term with the Hornets and doubts he’ll wind up with the Knicks, he told Michael Scotto of The Athletic.

The Charlotte point guard and New York native is heading into his walk year and has a very movable $12MM contract. Cleveland has been oft-mentioned as a potential landing spot if he gets traded.

The Knicks have several point guard options, including Emmanuel Mudiay, Trey Burke and Frank Ntilikina, but Walker would generally be considered an upgrade.

“As far as seeing me in New York, I doubt it,” Walker told Scotto. “I’m a Hornet, and I’m planning on being a Hornet for a long time, so, yeah, I’m not sure about that (New York).”

Hornets GM Mitch Kupchak has said he’d like to retain Walker but a contract extension isn’t feasible due to salary-cap restraints. Thus, Walker is headed to free agency next summer if he doesn’t get traded.

The Hornets have a stopgap option in Tony Parker, who agreed to a two-year, $10MM contract in free agency. Walker welcomes Parker’s presence and hopes to learn a few new tricks from the wily 36-year-old.

“Having Tony Parker is huge,” Walker told Scotto. “He’s a guy who’s been through it all. He knows a lot. He’s won championships. He knows what it takes to win in this league. I don’t think there’s any better point guard to learn from than Tony Parker.”

Malik Monk Injures Thumb

July 10th, 2018 at 5:52pm CST by Arthur Hill

JULY 10: Per an official announcement from the team, a further evaluation of Monk’s medical imaging by Hornets’ team physicians has uncovered that Monk’s right thumb is not fractured. Accordingly, Monk’s status will now be listed as day-to-day.

JULY 7: Hornets guard Malik Monk fractured his right thumb in Friday’s summer league game and will be sidelined six to eight weeks, tweets Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer. Monk suffered the injury late in a victory over the Thunder and was in street clothes at today’s practice (Twitter link).

It’s a frustrating end to summer league action for Monk, who put on a show with 15 points in the first quarter of Friday’s game. He had to sit out the 2017 summer league because of an ankle injury that bothered him for most of the offseason and may have contributed to his slow start in the NBA. The 11th pick in the 2017 draft, Monk appeared in 63 games during his first season, averaging 6.7 points per night and shooting just 36% from the field.

Even if his recovery takes the full eight weeks, Monk should be ready for the start of training camp in late September.

Hornets Notes: Trades, Howard, Biyombo, Parker

July 9th, 2018 at 3:05pm CST by Luke Adams

In exchange for taking on an extra year of salary when they traded Dwight Howard for Timofey Mozgov, the Hornets acquired a pair of second-round picks. However, the Nets also sent cash to Charlotte in that deal, and now we know just how much. According to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link), the Hornets received $5MM for their troubles.

During the 2018/19 league year, an NBA team can only acquire up to $5.243MM in cash in trades, so the Hornets nearly reached their limit in that transactions with the Nets. Charlotte did reach its limit shortly thereafter, when the team flipped one of the second-rounders it acquired from Brooklyn to the Thunder. In that swap, which sent Hamidou Diallo to Oklahoma City, the Hornets received $243K in cash along with a 2019 second-round pick, tweets Pincus.

The Hornets now won’t be able to acquire any more cash in a trade until the 2019/20 league year begins, though they can still send out up to $5.243MM in deals this season.

Here’s more out of Charlotte:

Explaining the decision to trade Howard, Hornets president of basketball operations Mitch Kupchak said the team considered waiving and stretching the veteran center like the Nets ultimately did, but decided the trade with Brooklyn was the best way to go. Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer has the details, along with the quotes from Kupchak.
According to Kupchak, Bismack Biyombo‘s rebounding and rim-protecting abilities are a key reason why the Hornets flipped Mozgov to Orlando for him (link via Rick Bonnell). Kupchak also spoke about the increasing value of second-round picks around the NBA — Charlotte has made five trades so far this offseason, and all five have included at least one incoming or outgoing second-rounder.
Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com doesn’t believe the Hornets will receive great value from the two-year, $10MM deal they gave Tony Parker. Pelton cites Parker’s .498 true shooting percentage, which ranked 252 out of the 275 players who played at least 1000 minutes last season, as one reason for pessimism, adding that Charlotte failed to take advantage of a buyer’s market for point guards.
Even if Parker’s on-court numbers for the Hornets are lacking, new head coach James Borrego values the veteran leadership the longtime Spurs point guard will bring to the franchise, as Rick Bonnell writes. “We were trying to find a player in free agency that had experience, had wisdom, had winning DNA,” Borrego said. “He is such a valuable piece and has been to that San Antonio organization. We’re very fortunate right now.”

Contract Details For Devonte' Graham

July 8th, 2018 at 6:54pm CST by Luke Adams

Devonte’ Graham‘s three-year deal with the Hornets is worth approximately $4.07MM (Twitter link). The first two years are guaranteed for the 34th overall pick, who was signed using part of Charlotte’s mid-level exception.