Jeff Peterson has earned a lot of credit for the way he’s steered the Charlotte Hornets since replacing Mitch Kupchak. Strip away the emotions around the LaMelo Ball trade, and it’s hard to argue with the overall direction: he has drafted well, uncovered a few hidden gems, and added intriguing pieces through trades without giving up much real value.
But one decision keeps following him around - the sixth overall pick in the 2024 draft, Tidjane Salaün.
In hindsight, Salaün probably wasn’t the right name for Charlotte to turn in. Still, at the time, it’s easy to understand why Peterson took the shot. Salaün came with the kind of traits teams talk themselves into: explosive athleticism, a strong motor, and a real work ethic.
Those traits haven’t disappeared, and that’s part of why there’s still belief in the building that he can grow into a useful role player. He doesn’t have to become a starter for the pick to work. And given how rough that draft class turned out, the bar was never especially high.
Zaccharie Risacher, the No. 1 overall pick, has already been traded, and Stephon Castle is the only player taken in the top five who is averaging more than 15 points per game. Once Risacher, Alex Sarr, Reed Sheppard, Castle, and Ron Holland were off the board, Charlotte was looking at Salaün, Donovan Clingan, Rob Dillingham, Dalton Knecht, and a handful of others.
There are later picks who have looked good - Matas Buzelis, Kel’el Ware, and Jared McCain among them - but none of those players was viewed as a top-six type before the draft, or really anywhere close to it.
Clingan would make the cleanest case in hindsight, sure. But even he wasn’t a guaranteed hit.
None of them were. If there was ever a draft where a front office could take a bold swing and live with the result, it was this one.
That’s why Peterson deserves a pass on Salaün.
And even if you want to argue for Clingan, the bigger question remains: would he have changed the Hornets that much? Probably not.
Salaün still has a chance to become something for Charlotte, even if that window feels like it’s shrinking fast.
In Other News...
Hornets Suddenly Face One Big Question After Their Offseason Overhaul
Charlottes offseason makeover was impossible to miss, with the front office reshaping the roster around a younger core and a different balance of experience. The Hornets added rookies Hannes Steinbach and Christian Anderson Jr., while also bringing in veterans who can help steady things around Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller as the organization looks to chart a new direction.
Still, the biggest ripple from that overhaul is hard to ignore, because the teams reset came with major change at the top of the lineup and across the wing rotation. Charlotte has clearly chosen a new lane, but the question now is how quickly all those pieces can mesh once the season starts and whether the new mix gives the Hornets enough structure to make the rebuild feel more like a plan than a pivot. [Read more 🡒]
Hornets Five-Team Trade Could Lead To A Bigger Roster Squeeze
The five-team trade that sent Peyton Watson, Cam Whitmore and the draft rights to Ismael Kamagate to Cleveland also pulled Charlotte deeper into the kind of offseason math that can get crowded in a hurry. Denver, the Clippers, the Hornets and the Wizards were all involved in the broader swap of players and draft picks, and for Charlotte the deal brought back Dennis Schrder along with a bit of financial relief from Cleveland.
The added flexibility is helpful, but it does not erase the ripple effect of fitting another veteran guard into an already tight roster picture. With contract details for Watson and potential follow-up moves involving Whitmore already part of the broader conversation around the trade, the Hornets still have decisions to make as the rest of the transaction settles and the next roster move comes into focus. [Read more 🡒]
Hornets Just Turned The LaMelo Era Into A Bigger Franchise Debate
The Hornets decision to trade LaMelo Ball has quickly become more than a roster move, because it pushes the franchise into a bigger question about what kind of team it wants to be. For all the talent Ball brought to Charlotte, the conversation around his future always came back to whether his game and the organizations direction could line up well enough to create something sturdier than brief postseason appearances.
Jeff Peterson has already signaled that the front office is thinking beyond short-term milestones, and that matters here. Charlotte has spent enough time around the edge of the Play-In picture to know the difference between scraping into the conversation and actually building something durable, and this move suggests the Hornets are trying to choose the latter, even if it means walking away from a player who once looked like the center of everything. [Read more 🡒]