Charlotte Hornets Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Hornets Rumors: Kupchak, Hayward, Bridges, Borrego

April 13th, 2022 at 1:08pm CST by Luke Adams

People around the NBA have speculated for years about the possibility of Hornets president of basketball operations Mitch Kupchak leaving the organization or transitioning into more of an advisory role, but those whispers have intensified this year, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report. As Fischer explains, Kupchak’s current contract with Charlotte is believed to expire at the end of this season.

It’s unclear at this point what Kupchak’s future holds, but Fischer says two names have frequently been cited as potential candidates for the top job in the Hornets’ front office if a change occurs. One is current assistant general manager Buzz Peterson, who was roommates with team owner Michael Jordan at UNC. The other is Bulls GM Marc Eversley, who interviewed for the job in 2018 before the Hornets hired Kupchak.

Here’s more on the Hornets:

“Word has circulated” among rival front offices that Hornets forward Gordon Hayward may be interested in a change of scenery this offseason, Fischer reports. However, a source close to Hayward told Bleacher Report that the veteran is primarily focused on recovering from the foot injury that appears likely to end his season.
Some league executives think that Hayward could be involved in a trade for Russell Westbrook, allowing the Hornets to increase their 2023 cap flexibility, according to Fischer. However, it would be a challenge for the Hornets and Lakers to work out a deal that appeals to both sides and includes both of those highly-paid former All-Stars. Using Hayward to try to acquire a center is another option Charlotte could explore, Fischer adds.
It’s unclear whether the Pacers will seriously consider Myles Turner – long considered a top trade target for the Hornets – this offseason, but league personnel expect Charlotte to be in the market for a rim protector like Turner. “They don’t defend,” one team scout said to Fischer. “You gotta find a defensive identity.”
Fischer’s sources believe the Hornets would match any offer sheet for RFA-to-be Miles Bridges. With that in mind, it remains to be seen if teams will be dissuaded from going after Bridges or if there could be a club willing to submit a maximum-salary offer to force Charlotte to match it. A four-year max deal for Bridges from a rival suitor projects to be worth about $128MM.
Even if the Hornets don’t make the playoffs via the play-in tournament, Fischer’s sources inside and outside of the franchise believe head coach James Borrego is a good bet to stick around. “It would make no sense to fire him,” an assistant general manager told Bleacher Report. “I know the NBA is a results-oriented business, but if you believe in him to be your coach, if you believe in him growing alongside LaMelo (Ball) and Bridges, you’ve taken a step forward each of the last two seasons, you just extended him. Why would not making the playoffs with a young roster suddenly change that?”

Poll: Wednesday’s Play-In Games

April 13th, 2022 at 7:22am CST by Luke Adams

There were no major surprises in Tuesday’s NBA play-in games. The favorites in those two matchups, the No. 7 Nets and the No. 7 Timberwolves, picked up home victories to secure the No. 7 seeds in the Eastern Conference and Western Conference, respectively. Brooklyn will face Boston in the first round of the playoffs, while Minnesota will take on Memphis.

Having lost on Tuesday, the No. 8 Cavaliers and No. 8 Clippers are now preparing to host play-in games on Friday to decide the No. 8 seed in each conference. Their opponents will be determined in a pair of Wednesday play-in contests.

First up, in the East, is a meeting of Southeast rivals, as the No. 10 Hornets visit the No. 9 Hawks.

Both teams finished the season strong — after a tough 17-25 start, Atlanta went 26-14 the rest of the way to secure a play-in berth. The Hornets, meanwhile, lost 13 of 17 games during an extended slump from January to March, but bounced back to win 11 of their last 15 en route to a play-in spot.

The Hawks and Hornets will each be missing a key player, as big man John Collins and forward Gordon Hayward have been ruled out due to injuries. But star point guards Trae Young and LaMelo Ball are still surrounded by strong supporting casts, with Bogdan Bogdanovic, Clint Capela, De’Andre Hunter, Kevin Huerter, and Danilo Gallinari playing major roles for Atlanta, while Miles Bridges, Terry Rozier, P.J. Washington, Kelly Oubre, and Montrezl Harrell complement Ball for Charlotte.

Both Southeast clubs paired top-10 offenses (No. 2 for Atlanta and No. 8 for Charlotte) with bottom-10 defenses (No. 22 for Charlotte and No. 26 for Atlanta) and finished in the middle of the pack in net rating (No. 14 for Atlanta and No. 16 for Charlotte). The Hawks’ home-court advantage helps make them a five-point favorite, according to BetOnline.ag.

Over in the West, the No. 9 Pelicans will host the No. 10 Spurs in Wednesday’s late game.

The Pelicans – a five-point favorite, per BetOnline.ag – generated more buzz than the Spurs down the stretch following a splashy trade deadline that saw them acquire star guard CJ McCollum. The longtime Blazer joined former All-Star Brandon Ingram, standout rookie Herbert Jones, double-double machine Jonas Valanciunas, and center-turned-forward Jaxson Hayes in what has become a formidable starting five. That group has posted a +8.2 net rating in 142 minutes.

The Spurs, meanwhile, were overlooked and viewed as a probable lottery team for much of the season, but they took advantage of the Trail Blazers’ decision to tank and the Lakers’ and Kings’ inability to win games consistently and claimed the West’s final play-in spot.

At 34-48, the Spurs are far from a juggernaut and aren’t loaded with star power, but All-Star guard Dejounte Murray, third-year forward Keldon Johnson, and center Jakob Poeltl had strong seasons, and the club’s rotation is filled out by useful role players like Devin Vassell, Josh Richardson, and Tre Jones.

Those looking for a reason to pick a San Antonio upset should note that the team actually had a better record on the road (18-23) than at home (16-25) this season, and registered a better net rating (+0.2) than the Pelicans (-0.8).

We want to know what you think. Will the favorites win again in Wednesday’s play-in games or will we get at least one upset tonight? Which teams will stay alive and which will head home for the season?

Make your picks in our poll, then head to the comment section below to weigh in on tonight’s play-in matchups!

And-Ones: Kerr, Schofield, Lopez, Harrell, Play-In, McClung, Harrison

April 10th, 2022 at 3:57pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Would less be more? When it comes to the NBA schedule, Warriors coach Steve Kerr believes so. He’d like to see the NBA cut its regular season from 82 games to 72, Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area writes. That would encourage coaches to play their regulars more often, instead of giving them nights off, particularly as the season winds down.

“What makes the most sense is cutting back to maybe a 72-game schedule,” Kerr said. “Take 10 games off and get more time to rest in between games. I think you’ll get buy-in from the teams to play their guys more often.”

We have more tidbits from around the basketball world:

Magic forward Admiral Schofield was fined $20K, while Magic center Robin Lopez and Hornets center Montrezl Harrell were fined $15K for their roles in an on-court altercation on Thursday, the NBA announced (Twitter link). All three were ejected during the fourth-quarter scuffle (video link).
Commissioner Adam Silver likes the way the play-in tournament has encouraged teams on the playoff bubble to remain competitive but might tweak it in future years, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic tweets. Executive VP of basketball strategy and analytics Evan Wasch suggested the league would consider a scenario where the ninth- and 10th-place finishers in each conference would have to win a certain number of games to qualify for the play-in.
Guard Mac McClung was named NBA G League Rookie of the Year after averaging 21.6 PPG and 7.6 APG for the South Bay Lakers, the league tweets. The Lakers rewarded McClung with a two-way contract on Saturday.
Free agent guard Shaquille Harrison has been named G League Defensive Player of the Year, according to a league press release. Harrison averaged 1.93 steals per game for the Delaware Blue Coats.

Gordon Hayward To Miss Play-In Tournament

April 10th, 2022 at 12:16pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Hornets forward Gordon Hayward will miss the NBA’s play-in tournament due to a foot injury, the team announced in a press release.

Hayward is out indefinitely because of nagging pain in his left foot. He will be placed in a cast to immobilize his foot and he will be re-evaluated in approximately two weeks.

He missed nearly two months of action due to sprained ligaments in his left ankle before returning last Saturday, April 2. Hayward played 17 minutes but returned to the sidelines this week.

The team’s highest-paid player, Hayward is averaging 15.9 PPG, 4.6 RPG and 3.6 APG in 31.9 MPG in 49 appearances during his second season with the club. He has two seasons and approximately $61.6MM remaining on his contract.

Charlotte entered the final day of the regular season tied for ninth place in the Eastern Conference with a 42-39 record. Assuming they don’t move up in the standings today, the Hornets would have to win two play-in games to earn a playoff spot.

Hornets Might Have Interest In Russell Westbrook

April 7th, 2022 at 4:00pm CST by Rory Maher

League insiders have increasingly mentioned the Hornets as a team that might have interest in trading for Lakers guard Russell Westbrook, writes Marc Stein at Substack.

Charlotte would only be interested in Westbrook in order to create long-term financial flexibility, and based on salary-matching rules, the team would have to send out roughly $38MM to acquire the former MVP. Stein points to Gordon Hayward and Terry Rozier as contracts the team might want to move to accommodate a new deal for Miles Bridges this summer, plus the future max extension of LaMelo Ball.

Hayward has been very productive when healthy for Charlotte, but injuries have again been a concern. After appearing in 44 of 72 games last season, he’s played in 49 of 79 contests this season and is listed as doubtful for Thursday’s matchup with Orlando (Twitter link). Hayward will earn $30.075MM next season and $31.5MM in 2023/24.

Rozier has also been productive over the past few seasons. His four-year, $96.26MM extension starts next season, so he’ll be under contract through ’25/26.

Pairing Hayward or Rozier with Kelly Oubre could work as a framework of a deal, Stein says. He also notes that Hornets owner Michael Jordan has long admired Westbrook, although it isn’t known whether that would play a factor in a potential trade.

The Rockets remain the most logical trade partner for Westbrook due to John Wall‘s salary being a near-perfect match, but the Lakers might not find that any more palatable than they did previously, considering Houston was asking for a first-round pick, per Stein.

League sources tell Stein that the Lakers also haven’t ruled out using the waive-and-stretch provision on Westbrook’s contract, which would split his $47.06MM player option over three seasons with annual hits of $15.69MM. Going that route would take Los Angeles out of the luxury tax and make it much easier to retain Malik Monk; the team badly wants to bring him back, so it’s considered a viable possibility.

Health Updates: D. Murray, Hayward, Mobley, Zion, More

April 6th, 2022 at 9:15am CST by Luke Adams

Dejounte Murray, who missed a third straight game on Tuesday due to an upper respiratory illness, may not accompany the Spurs on their trip to Minnesota for Thursday’s game, head coach Gregg Popovich told reporters, including Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link).

As it turned out, the Spurs didn’t need their All-Star guard available in order to clinch a play-in spot with a victory in Denver on Tuesday. The Spurs are just one game behind the Pelicans in the standings for the No. 9 spot and hold the tiebreaker over New Orleans, so if the two teams finish with identical records, their play-in game would take place in San Antonio.

Here are a few more health updates from around the NBA:

After making his return from a foot injury on Saturday, Hornets forward Gordon Hayward missed Tuesday’s contest against the Heat. According to Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer (Twitter link), head coach James Borrego referred to it as a precautionary move and said the team doesn’t want to push Hayward too hard following a lengthy absence.
Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley did a lot of on-court work on Tuesday and is making progress in his recovery from a sprained ankle, tweets Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. A source tells Fedor there’s a chance Mobley will play in Brooklyn on Friday. The team will know more after Thursday’s practice.
Pelicans head coach Willie Green didn’t provide an official update on Zion Williamson‘s injury rehab on Tuesday, but sources tell Andrew Lopez of ESPN (Twitter links) that the star forward has progressed to more on-court work. He remains out indefinitely.
The Clippers upgraded Norman Powell (foot) from out to doubtful for Wednesday’s game vs. Phoenix, tweets Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. It still sounds like Powell probably won’t play tonight, but it’s a good sign that he’s moving closer to a return.
Heat power forward P.J. Tucker left Tuesday’s win early due to what the team has initially diagnosed as a right calf strain, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. Acting head coach Chris Quinn said Tucker will get looked at more extensively on Wednesday.

Eastern Notes: Hayward, Lowry, Barnes, Duarte, Porzingis

April 4th, 2022 at 8:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Incorporating Gordon Hayward back into the rotation is a tricky task for Hornets coach James Borrego, Roderick Boone of the Charlotte Observer notes. Hayward missed nearly two months of action due to a foot injury. He had five points, four rebounds and three assists in 17 minutes against Philadelphia on Saturday.

“Well, it’s a challenge, but that’s my job and I’ll figure it out,” Borrego said. “We’ll take a look at the film, look at the rotations. We’ve got two days now to digest and figure out what we are going to do. … I’ll try to bring some consistency to the lineup and try to communicate that to our group, making sure everybody understands their role and what this rotation is going to look like moving forward.”

We have more from the Eastern Conference:

Heat guard Kyle Lowry is impressed by the lottery pick his former team drafted, Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports tweets. Lowry sees Scottie Barnes as a potential franchise player for the Raptors. “He’s a special talent. He’s going to be a cornerstone of the franchise,” Lowry said. “He fits in perfectly here – how hard he plays, how passionate he is for the game. And he’s only going to continue to get better.”
Pacers rookie Chris Duarte won’t play during the final week of the season, according to Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files. Duarte hasn’t played since March 15 due to a left big toe injury. Duarte, the 13th pick of last year’s draft, averaged 13.1 PPG in 28 MPG while appearing in 55 games.
The Wizards defeated Dallas on Friday, the first time Kristaps Porzingis played against his former team. Porzingis was grateful for the intensity his new teammates showed, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington writes. “What I liked is everybody had my back (Friday),” Porzingis said. “They knew it was, I don’t want to say a personal game, but it’s always fun to compete against your former team. Everybody had my back.”

Hornets Not Satisfied With Play-in; Bridges Still Motivated By Knicks Snub

April 1st, 2022 at 8:25pm CST by Rory Maher

The Hornets have clinched a spot in the play-in tournament, but they have their sights set on loftier goals, as Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer relays. “We can’t be content — we haven’t done s—,” Kelly Oubre said. “So we’ve got to continue to work, stay humble and continue to grind and create our own narrative for the future and establish ourselves in an area for sure that is in the winning light. So we’ve got to continue to stay hungry and stay humble.”
Within the same article, Boone notes that Miles Bridges apparently still holds some resentment that the Knicks didn’t select him in the 2018 draft. The Knicks selected Kevin Knox at No. 9, while Bridges fell to the Hornets at No. 12. “There’s a lot of history between me and the Knicks’ organization, going back to draft day,” Bridges said. “So every time I come in, I want to make a point of why they should have drafted me back then. I just try to be aggressive every time I come here and show them what I can do and it’s been working out.” Bridges has scored 30-plus points in each of his last three appearances in New York, including 31 on 11-of-15 shooting in the team’s 125-114 victory Wednesday. He’ll be a restricted free agent this summer.

Hornets’ Gordon Hayward Set To Return On Saturday

April 1st, 2022 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

With the Hornets in the midst of a battle for play-in positioning, veteran forward Gordon Hayward is poised to make his return from an ankle injury that has sidelined him for nearly two months, writes Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer.

According to Boone, Hayward has been listed as probable for Saturday’s game in Philadelphia vs. the 76ers and will be available for the Hornets.

Hayward, who last played on February 7, has missed Charlotte’s last 22 games after spraining ligaments in his left ankle. Prior to the injury, he has been his usual productive self, averaging 16.1 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 3.6 APG on .460/.390/.846 shooting in 48 appearances (32.2 MPG).

The Hornets have held their own without Hayward and have been particularly hot as of late, winning eight of their last 10 games to pull in a three-way tie with Brooklyn and Atlanta for the East’s No. 8 seed. Claiming that spot in the standings would put Charlotte in a stronger position to a earn a playoff spot in the play-in tournament, but it won’t be easy — both the Nets and Hawks have more favorable schedules over the next 10 days, per Tankathon.

After playing in Philadelphia on Saturday, the Hornets will head to Miami to face the Heat on Tuesday. Their regular season schedule will conclude with a a visit to Chicago on April 8, sandwiched by a pair of favorable home matchups vs. Orlando (April 7) and Washington (April 10).

Southeast Notes: Ball, Thomas, Hawks, Beal, Heat

March 22nd, 2022 at 9:31pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Hornets All-Star point guard LaMelo Ball has developed a good relationship with reserve point guard Isaiah Thomas, writes Roderick Boone of the Charlotte Observer.

Earlier today, it was officially announced that Thomas signed a rest-of-season deal with Charlotte. The 33-year-old Thomas, a former two-time All-Star, has already served as a mentor to Ball.

“I feel like on the court, he’s just helped Melo slow down,” forward Miles Bridges said. “It’s certain plays, Melo, he makes the flashy plays or he tries to force something. But I.T., he’s been talking to Melo, making sure he makes the right play at all times. And off the court, just staying professional.”

Thomas addressed his Hornets role in relation to Ball. The duo occasionally share time on the floor together.

“Just knowing how important the possession is … obviously we want him to push the pace,” Thomas said, “but there are times where we don’t get things three or four possessions. We’ve got to slow it down. Get us in a set that’s going to get the ball moving side-to-side, then attack downhill. So I think it’s easier for him to relate to me because I’ve been in those situations.”

In seven games for Charlotte, the 5’9″ veteran guard is averaging 9.9 PPG, 2.0 APG and 1.3 APG in 13.4 MPG. As a shooter, Thomas’s output has reached an efficiency level unseen since his Boston days. He boasts shooting splits of .462/.480/1.000 with the Hornets.

There’s more out of the Southeast Division:

The 36-36 Hawks appear in desperate need of a defensive upgrade next season, as was evinced in a 117-112 loss to the Pelicans on Sunday, writes Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. What New Orleans exhibited in perimeter defensive effort, the Hawks lacked, per Kirschner. “They have a lot of guys who have size and length on the wing,” Atlanta All-Star point guard Trae Young said. “They made some good reads. They were really pulling in to help on the roller, and the guy who had to guard two did a good job of picking the right one. I made a couple of turnovers picking the wrong one. You have to tip your hat to them in making the right reads.”
Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal recently discussed what he thinks Washington requires to return to contention in the East, writes Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. Beal expressed his enthusiasm for new Wizards addition Kristaps Porzingis, added at the trade deadline, but there are areas where he sees particular room for improvement. “I think we need bigger guards,” Beal said. “We need more guys that can get in the paint for us, more ball-handlers, more guys that can really create and get two feet in the paint, but also who can knock down threes.” Beal also wants additional two-way perimeter help: “Just some dog wings, some 3-and-D guys who can get after it and accept those challenges come playoff time when we play the Jayson Tatums, all the elite primetime wings.”
As the 47-25 Heat gear up for the playoffs, the top-seeded team in the East continues to tinker with its rotation. That decision-making extends to how Miami opts to dole out minutes to its reserve big men Markieff Morris and Dewayne Dedmon, writes Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. Chiang explains that Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra is letting opponent matchups dictate whether he decides to use Morris or Dedmon on any given night.