The Hornets kept trimming the edges of their preseason roster, cycling through a pair of guard signings before landing on Latrell Wrightsell.
Charlotte waived forward Wyatt Fricks, then brought in DaJuan Gordon, only to waive Gordon and replace him with Wrightsell, according to team announcements. Gordon went undrafted out of UT Arlington in 2024 and has spent most of the last two years in the G League. In 2025/26, he made 34 total appearances for the Noblesville Boom and averaged 12.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 27.6 minutes per game while shooting .523/.456/.657.
Wrightsell, a 6-foot-3 guard, went undrafted out of Alabama earlier this year. He built his case on volume from deep, hitting 36% of his threes last season while taking 7.8 attempts per game. For the Crimson Tide, he posted 13.2 points and 3.1 rebounds in 27.3 minutes per contest before agreeing to terms on a deal with the Hornets in June.
Fricks’ deal with Charlotte included Exhibit 10 language, and Gordon’s and Wrightsell’s are expected to as well. The Hornets appear to have all three pointed toward Greensboro, with the Swarm recently acquiring Gordon’s returning rights in a trade with the Boom.
Elsewhere around the league, former Mississippi State forward Cameron Matthews signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Rockets, reports Varun Shankar of The Houston Chronicle. Matthews spent his first professional season in 2025/26 with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, appearing in 48 games and averaging 12.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists for Houston’s G League affiliate. The new deal looks aimed at securing him a bonus on top of his G League base salary if he returns to the Vipers and spends at least 60 days with the team this season.
In Atlanta, the Hawks signed forward Giorgi Bezhanishvili to an Exhibit 10 deal one day before waiving him, according to a team press release. Bezhanishvili is expected to start the season with the College Park Skyhawks and would earn an Exhibit 10 bonus if he spends at least 60 days with Atlanta’s G League team.
Utah also made a pair of waiver moves, announcing that forwards Taylor Funk and Chance Moore have been placed on waivers. Both had been on Exhibit 10 contracts and are expected to report this fall to the Salt Lake City Stars, the Jazz’s G League affiliate.
And in Brooklyn, swingman Ben Humrichous has been waived after appearing in two preseason games for the Nets, tweets Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Undrafted out of Illinois earlier this year, Humrichous is on pace to begin his rookie season with the Long Island Nets.
In Other News...
Hawks Opening Night Lineup Comes With One Big Offensive Concern
The Hawks are heading into opening night against the Orlando Magic with a starting group that looks built to be long, versatile and disruptive on defense. A likely lineup of CJ McCollum, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels, Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu gives Atlanta size on the perimeter and plenty of activity at the point of attack, while also hinting at a different identity than the one fans may be used to seeing.
The bigger question is whether that group has enough half-court creation when the game slows down. McCollum supplies proven scoring punch, but the rest of the projected starters are still best known for defense, connective play and energy, which leaves the Hawks with some lineup decisions to monitor early in the season, including whether Lu Dort eventually fits into the starting five or whether Aaron Wiggins becomes more important in closing situations. [Read more 🡒]
Hawks Fans Can Finally Say What Bronny Coverage Exposed
Bronny James has drawn plenty of attention since entering the league as a late second-round pick, but Gilbert Arenas recently used that spotlight to make a broader point about how the NBA conversation gets shaped. His criticism centered on the way media attention can balloon around one young player while another, even one taken at the very top of the draft, can slide through the discussion with far less noise. For Hawks fans, that hits close to home because Zaccharie Risacher was the No. 1 overall pick in 2024 and arrived with the kind of expectations that usually make a player impossible to overlook.
DeMarcus Cousins has also chimed in on the imbalance, noting that Risacher is often left out of the familiar debates about European and American players. That absence stands out all the more because Risachers playing time and production have given analysts enough to evaluate, yet the noise tends to follow James instead. The contrast leaves Atlanta in an odd spot, with its top pick getting less of the national spotlight than a player drafted much later, and it says as much about the media cycle as it does about either rookie. [Read more 🡒]
Asa Newell Is Already Forcing A Big Hawks Role Conversation
Asa Newell has already made the preseason feel like an early role review in Atlanta. The 2025 first-round pick has flashed the kind of defensive versatility that can matter right away, and he has looked engaged in the Hawks system as they sort through how to use him best.
The question is less about whether Newell belongs in the mix and more about what kind of minutes he should get once the games count. His shooting has been uneven, especially from deep, which tracks with the issues he showed in college, so the Hawks seem to be weighing a path built around switchable defense and off-ball work rather than asking him to carry a bigger scoring load this early. [Read more 🡒]