NBA Analyst Explains Why Charlotte Hornets Had Excellent Offseason

The Charlotte Hornets received an "A" from NBA analyst Sam Quinn of CBS Sports for their offseason moves thus far.   

Charlotte traded LaMelo Ball and Josh Green to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Naz Reid and sent Miles Bridges to the Phoenix Suns for Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale, and then in the draft, the Hornets took Hannes Steinbach from Washington with the 14th overall pick and Texas Tech's Christian Anderson Jr. with the 18th overall pick. 

"There is no trait more valuable in a front office than self-awareness," Quinn wrote. "Most teams would've looked at a 40-24 stretch to end the regular season as something to build on. The Hornets saw it as fool's gold and decided to take the opportunity to cash out on a player in LaMelo Ball with serious defensive, durability and maturity concerns. The price they got for him was modest relative to his talent level, but reasonable in light of the risks he carried. Getting an unprotected 2033 first-round pick for Miles Bridges was outright theft.  

"The Hornets still have two young possible stars in Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel, but they now have arguably the best collection of future draft capital in the entire NBA and squeaky-clean books for the foreseeable future. They're positioned perfectly now to remain competitive in the revamped lottery format, balancing the present and the future as they opportunistically build their new team from a position of strength. It will take a few years for their vision to come to fruition, but they were bolder in laying the groundwork for it than almost any other team would have. They should be applauded for that."

The Hornets are expected to start Coby White, Brandon Miller, Kon Knueppel, Reid and Moussa Diabaté next season. That's a strong starting five on paper. 

The Hornets missed the playoffs this past season by one game. They haven't made the playoffs since 2016, but the future of the franchise looks bright with White, Miller, Knueppel, Reid and Diabaté leading the way. 

Next season will be the first time in his NBA career that Reid will be a starter. It will be fascinating to see how the 26-year-old performs in head coach Charles Lee's system. 

Reid won the 2023-24 Sixth Man of the Year Award. He enters next season with career averages of 11.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game in the regular season and 10.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game in the playoffs. 

For Minnesota this past season, Reid averaged 13.6 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game while shooting 45.6% from the field, 36.2% from beyond the arc and 73.2% from the free-throw line. He recorded six double-doubles. 

Reid will make $23,275,862 next season. Multiple teams have tried to acquire him from the Hornets, but Charlotte is keeping the talented big man. 

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