The Hornets traded for Coby White for a good reason, and that's to help create a winner. If they trade him, it'll undo a significant amount of progress.
After one of the best seasons in franchise history, the Charlotte Hornets now face a difficult offseason decision: what to do with Coby White.
General Manager Jeff Peterson gave up a lump sum to get White in the middle of last season, and with free agency inching closer, he needs to figure out what his next move is.
He traded Collin Sexton, Ousmane Dieng, and a handful of second round picks.
Sexton was a player that was beloved in Charlotte’s locker room, and if the Hornets were going to trade the heart of their locker room, they needed to get a full return on investment.
And they got that for the 2025-26 season.
Charlotte unlocked a different version of White in 2025-26, using him in a more ball-dominant role off the bench after he spent much of his Bulls tenure operating primarily as a spot-up shooter.
And when White landed in Charlotte, he expressed his excitement on becoming an on-ball force, even if it meant coming off the bench.
Since the season ended, reaching common ground between the Hornets and White has increasingly become more difficult.
He is likely seeking a raise from his $12.8 million salary from last year, with Spotrac projecting him to make as much as $24.5 million per season. That would make him Charlotte’s second-highest paid player.
Charlotte’s financial outlook only gets more complicated after next season, when Brandon Miller, Moussa Diabate, and Josh Green could all be due for raises.
Given how important White has been for the Hornets, the franchise also seeks to improve their frontcourt. Diabate proved to be a long-term piece, however, given his size, the likelihood of assuming the center position for years to come may be slim.
Michael Scotto of HoopsHype seems to suggest that Charlotte is big fans of Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton, and Brooklyn heavily values White.
Scotto even tossed around the idea of performing a sign-and-trade where Claxton ends up in Charlotte, and White signs a contract extension with the Nets. It’s not out of the question as Peterson does have a strong relationship with the Nets front office, as he’s spent time working under Nets GM Sean Marks.
Peterson, though, has proven to be a shrewd General Manager, and the proposed trade from Scotto doesn’t line up with his own statement after the season concluded:
“We can’t skip steps… I’ve seen it too many times, and it doesn’t end up going the way you think it goes in terms of trying to speed things up. But we’ll continue to be strategic, and when the opportunity presents itself, I know we’ll be ready because of the flexibility that we have.”
Peterson has also publicly framed White as a long-term piece, which suggests Charlotte understood the financial implications when it made the trade.
The Hornets should prioritize retaining White though. As his career has progressed, White has developed into a clear net-positive whenever he’s on the floor.
Which is why he was playing in crunch time during the team’s biggest games.
What Charlotte needs to do is to stick with what’s working. The frontcourt needs to improve, but not at the expense of one of its biggest pieces.
Kon Knueppel and LaMelo Ball may be the faces of the franchise, but White is the straw that stirs the drink.
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