The Charlotte Hornets are still a work in progress. But a work in progress that may finally have the formula for winning basketball. Can they jumpstart the rebuild by trading for a top forward?
The Charlotte Hornets reportedly have eyes on one of the top trade targets in the NBA.
Former NBA All Star Domantas Sabonis is currently whittling away on a Sacramento Kings team that now owns the worst record in the NBA.
Sacramento had a decent run in the four and a half seasons that Sabonis has donned the purple and black, but with the season seemingly out of reach already, teams have come knocking.
Sabonis is currently 29-years-old and in the midst of the prime of his career, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he’d welcome a change of scenery.
He’s also recovering from a partial tear in his meniscus, with the Kings announcing that he would be re-evaluated in four-to-five weeks.
Insider Evan Sidery wrote that the Hornets are a sleeper team to make a move for Sabonis on X, in a move that has a chance to spice up the Eastern Conference.
Charlotte is built with much intrigue. It is rather guard-heavy, with limited options in the frontcourt, but the Hornets are already seeing an incredible return on investment from center Ryan Kalkbrenner.
Beyond Kalkbrenner, they also have Moussa Diabate, a fourth-year center who is posting career-high numbers.
While Sabonis has primarily played center throughout his career, he’s also comfortable shifting to the power forward position, where he played a lot while he was with the Indiana Pacers.
But here lies the problem. Someone has to go.
Currently, Miles Bridges starts at the four for Charlotte. And while he’s a dynamic and athletic player, he plays more like a wing, rather than a big.
To that point, there’s a lot of questions raised about Brandon Miller’s status with the team. There hasn’t been any reports of Charlotte wanting to move past him, but like LaMelo Ball, Miller has been dealing with a myriad of injuries since he’s entered the NBA.
Does he have ‘face of the franchise’ potential? Absolutely. But he hasn’t proved it just yet.
Charlotte adds a player like Sabonis and not only does it have a well-rounded roster on the offensive end, but it becomes one of the more feared frontcourts in basketball.
And his presence takes a load of pressure off Miller and phenom Kon Knueppel.
Kalkbrenner is already one of the league’s best at protecting the rim, but Sabonis has averaged over 12 rebounds in the previous seven seasons of his career. Not just that, Sabonis can expand his game to the perimeter, or he can stick his back to the basket.
Winners need to make big time moves eventually, and for the better part of 20 years, Charlotte has lacked that big time move.
Right now, it’s just speculation that the Hornets are targeting him, but the fit would be seamless.