The NBA offseason still has a few loose threads hanging around, and Charlotte Hornets fans should keep an eye on them. Thanks to a little cap flexibility and a pile of trade exceptions, the Hornets are in position to help other teams clean up their books while adding more assets of their own.
Charlotte is sitting with 17 players after waiving Mo Gueye, which leaves the roster one shy of the offseason limit. That open spot matters.
So do the three trade exceptions the Hornets are carrying: $40M from the LaMelo Ball trade, $8.2M from the Collin Sexton trade, and $7M from the Tyus Jones trade. Put all of that together, and Charlotte has real room to take part in some of the final moves around the league.
One possible domino involves Peyton Watson, who is still tied up in restricted free agency. If Denver wants to pull off a sign-and-trade for Watson, the Nuggets first need to get below the second apron.
The cleanest path there is moving Zeke Nnaji’s $7.4M salary. That number lines up with Charlotte’s $8.2M trade exception, which gives the Hornets a practical way to step in and help make the deal work.
If Charlotte does take on Nnaji, the payoff could be more than just a roster body. The Hornets could potentially get a first-round pick from either Denver or Watson’s next team for helping facilitate the transaction.
Nnaji is not in the rotation at this point in his career, but his salary is manageable enough that Charlotte could be willing to absorb it if a useful asset comes back. He also has a player option for 2027-28, which would mean the Hornets would likely be on the hook for two years in that scenario.
Another Watson-related angle could send a different veteran into Charlotte’s lap. The Cleveland Cavaliers still have accounting work to do before the season starts, and they are currently $22M below the first apron. If they want to re-sign James Harden and make a potential trade for Peyton Watson, they need to shed salary first.
That puts Max Strus and Dennis Schroder in the conversation. Strus is set at $16M, while Schroder is at $14M, and both fit into the trade exception Charlotte created in the LaMelo Ball trade.
In that sense, the Hornets could become the landing spot for one of Cleveland’s unwanted contracts. Schroder is viewed as the more likely candidate in this setup, and there is still plenty of appeal in the idea of Charlotte adding the veteran guard as a short-term backcourt option.
Taken together, these possibilities have turned Charlotte into a useful middleman in the league’s late-summer business. Jeff Peterson’s work on the margins has put the Hornets in a spot where they can absorb money, collect assets, and help shape the final wave of offseason deals.
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That reality brings real contract stakes with it this summer. Charlotte may look to work out a rookie-scale extension with Miller, but if that does not happen, he would be headed toward restricted free agency next summer. For a franchise trying to reset its identity, the timing matters, especially with Miller and Kon Knueppel now viewed as the faces of the team. The Hornets have already accepted that their future looks different than it did a year ago, and Millers next move will say plenty about how quickly that future can take shape. [Read more 🡒]