- Point guard Michael Carter-Williams will have to wait to make his debut with the Hornets. Although the guard was recently cleared for contact, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer reports that he suffered a setback on Monday that will bump back his timeline.
For the first time, NBA teams are permitted to carry up to 17 players this season. In addition to carrying up to 15 players to the NBA roster, teams can add two more players on two-way contracts. The rule changes related to roster sizes have allowed teams to maintain a little extra flexibility, and many clubs are taking advantage of that added flexibility to open the season, carrying the full 17 players.
Several teams still have open roster spots though, affording those clubs a different kind of flexibility. A team carrying only 14 NBA players, for instance, has the opportunity to sign a free agent or add a player in a trade at any time without waiving anyone, all the while avoiding paying for a 15th man who almost certainly won’t see much playing time.
With the help of our roster count page and our two-way contract tracker, here’s a breakdown of the teams that have at least one open NBA or two-way spot on their rosters:
Teams carrying just 14 NBA contracts:
- Boston Celtics
- Charlotte Hornets
- Detroit Pistons
- Houston Rockets
- Indiana Pacers
- Los Angeles Clippers
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- Portland Trail Blazers
It makes sense that a few of these teams would avoid carrying a 15th man to open the season. The Rockets, Thunder, and Trail Blazers are all taxpayers, and teams like the Clippers and Hornets are close enough to the tax threshold that avoiding a 15th salary is logical. Among these clubs, the Celtics seem like perhaps the best bet to fill their final roster opening soon, now that the team has likely lost Gordon Hayward for the season.
Teams carrying just one two-way contract:
- Atlanta Hawks
- Houston Rockets
- Milwaukee Bucks
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- New York Knicks
- Portland Trail Blazers
The Trail Blazers don’t currently have a G League affiliate of their own, but the other five teams on this list do, so that’s probably not the reason Portland has waited to fill its second two-way slot. In all likelihood, these six teams will add a second two-way player in time for G League training camps, which open next week. The season tips off on November 3.
The Hornets have released Terry Henderson, Isaiah Hicks, Luke Petrasek and T.J. Williams, the team announced in a press release. After the cuts, Charlotte’s roster sits at 14 players.
All four of the players waived were on non-guaranteed deals and could end up with the club’s G League squad as affiliate players.
Notably absent from the list of cuts is Treveon Graham, the last of Charlotte’s five non-guaranteed players on the roster through training camp. It’s possible, considering where the Hornets’ roster stands, that Graham makes the team to start the season.
- The offseason arrival of Dwight Howard supplanted Cody Zeller from the starting lineup, but the Hornets‘ backup center remains valuable to the team as he enters the first year of a new contract. Sam Perley of Hornets.com has the story on Zeller.
A specialist has determined that Nicolas Batum won’t require surgery, reports Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer.
The Hornets swingman suffered a torn ligament in his left elbow in a game last Wednesday and is projected to be sidelined for six to eight weeks. An MRI showed it was a tear of the ulnar collateral ligament.
“It’s going to be long, but not that long,” Batum said before Monday’s meeting with a doctor in Dallas. “If it were my shooting arm, it would be a lot longer. At max, it’s three months.”
The Charlotte medical staff is still determining the best course of treatment, but the team has to be relieved that Batum won’t have to undergo an operation. The 28-year-old is coming off his best statistical season, averaging a career high 15.1 points per game to go with 6.2 rebounds and 5.9 assists.
Batum said he got hurt when his arm got wedged between Detroit’s Stanley Johnson and another player. It’s an injury that frequently affects baseball pitchers and often requires Tommy John surgery.
The Hornets should find out soon whether Nicolas Batum will require surgery for a torn ligament in his left elbow, relays Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer. Batum is projected to be sidelined six to eight weeks with the injury, which he suffered in a preseason game Wednesday. He will meet with a specialist Monday in Dallas to determine whether surgery is the best option.
Batum’s injury has been diagnosed as a tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow. He wore a wrap on the elbow at Friday’s practice and said he was relieved when X-rays showed there was no fracture. Although Batum described the injury as painful, he promised to return as quickly as possible. “When I put my arms up, I feel something,” he said. “If this were my shooting arm, it would be like a tragedy. It’s not and that’s good.”
There’s more out of Charlotte:
- Coach Steve Clifford plans to move Jeremy Lamb into the starting lineup during Batum’s absence, Bonnell writes in a separate piece. Lamb has made just a handful of starts during his first five seasons in the NBA, but he has been Charlotte’s top preseason scorer. “He’s worked so hard, and not just for two months — steady work since he’s gotten here,” Clifford said. “The more he’s worked, and the more he sees how his hard work is paying dividends, he’s notched it up even more. You get confidence when you work at a good pace. And now it’s all paying off for him.”
- Michael Carter-Williams reported no physical problems after his first scrimmage as a Hornet, Bonnell notes in another story. The former Rookie of the Year, who agreed to a one-year, $2.7MM deal this summer, wasn’t medically cleared until Friday because of patella tendon tears that required platelet-rich plasma treatments on both knees. The scrimmage was only half-court, but Carter-Williams found it encouraging. “It’s great to compete out there; it’s what I missed the most,” he said. “My timing is a little bit off. I need to get back to playing at the pace of this team. My knees have been fine.”
- The injury to Batum means first-round pick Malik Monk and second-rounder Dwayne Bacon may have to contribute sooner than expected, Bonnell writes in another piece. “That rookie stuff goes out the window at this point,” Kemba Walker told them.
3:44pm: There hasn’t been any determination yet as to whether or not Batum will require surgery, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer writes. The forward is said to have damaged his ulnar collateral ligament, the same one often associated with pitchers that undergo Tommy John surgery.
The Hornets issued a press release confirming Batum’s injury and indicating that he’s expected to miss a minimum of six to eight weeks.
3:19pm: The Hornets could be without Nicolas Batum for eight to 12 weeks, Shams Charania of The Vertical tweets. The swingman tore a ligament in his left elbow during Wednesday night’s preseason game.
In 77 games for the Hornets last season, Batum averaged 15.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game.
This year Charlotte hoped to take a substantial leap forward after missing the postseason in 2016/17. The club’s newfound depth – depleted significantly sans Batum – was to play a major role in that.
The given timeline would have Batum back on the court anywhere from early December to early January, still with plenty of time to get back into routine and contribute for the Hornets during the playoff stretch.
With Batum on the sidelines, the Hornets will need to find a way to fill his contributions at the two. Currently rookie Malik Monk is the next in line at the position but Jeremy Lamb – currently slated to be the team’s backup small forward -could spend time there as well.
The Hornets already have 20 players on their roster, 13 of whom are on guaranteed deals.
- Hornets backup guard Michael Carter-Williams expects to be cleared for contact early next week, he told the Charlotte Observer’s Rick Bonnell. Carter-Williams received platelet-rich plasma injections in both knees to promote healing of patella tears, Bonnell continues. He’s been restricted to noncontact drills during the first week of training camp.
The Hornets struggled to keep leads when their starters – particularly Kemba Walker and Cody Zeller – were on the bench last season. The question ahead of 2017/18 then, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer asks, is whether or not that will change this season.
Gone are all of Walker’s and Zeller’s backups, a veritable laundry list of players from Ramon Sessions, Brian Roberts and Briante Weber to Spencer Hawes, Roy Hibbert and Miles Plumlee. In their place are Michael Carter-Williams and Dwight Howard, both of whom were attained by the Hornets at relative bargains over the summer.
Of course the addition of Carter-Williams will provide size and defense to the Hornets’ second unit but the real draw is Howard, not because of what he’ll add off the bench but because of what his addition to the starting lineup entails.
As we’ve already written, head coach Steve Clifford has already committed to starting Howard when the season begins, that means Zeller himself will be able to work directly with the Hornets’ second unit to help do for them what he did for the starting five in 2016/17.
- Hornets majority owner Michael Jordan will soon have a stake in another professional sports franchise. Jordan is part of Derek Jeter‘s group that has been approved to buy the Miami Marlins, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer writes.
- A hamstring injury will sideline Hornets forward Treveon Graham, the team’s PR department tweets. Graham is one of five players on non-guaranteed deals hoping to make the team’s opening day roster.