In the aftermath of the LaMelo Ball trade, it didn’t take long for Hornets fans to start looking for the next big swing. Jaylen Brown’s name surfaced almost immediately, and there was at least some talk between Charlotte and Boston before those discussions faded away.
By the time Brown was dealt to the Philadelphia 76ers for Paul George, two first-rounders, and two pick swaps, the Hornets were already out of the picture by choice. The return was underwhelming, which naturally raised the question: could Charlotte have gone there if it wanted to?
The short answer is yes. The Hornets had enough draft capital to make it work, especially after adding two more first-round picks and three pick swaps this offseason alone. From a pure assets standpoint, they weren’t boxed out.
The harder part was the money.
Charlotte doesn’t have a Paul George-type contract sitting on the books, which means a Brown deal would have forced them to send out more actual players. Brown’s salary coming in would’ve been $57.1 million, and the Hornets couldn’t use their trade exception to smooth things over. With Ball gone, there also wasn’t a massive salary already in place to make the math easy.
That likely would have pushed Charlotte toward including a young player like Brandon Miller just to satisfy the financial side of the deal. Miles Bridges is off the books, and he was the second-largest contract.
Josh Green, who ranked fourth on the team in salary, is gone too. The remaining workable combinations - Grant Williams, Brandon Miller, Tre Mann, and Tidjane Salaün - would have meant giving up far too much for one player, especially with Miller and Salaün viewed as important parts of the future.
If the Hornets could rewind the clock, Bridges, Green, and Williams would line up more cleanly with Brown’s number. But that isn’t the situation Charlotte was dealing with now.
And even if the money had been cleaner, the fit still wasn’t compelling. Brown is a talented player, but Boston was actually 5.6 points worse with him on the floor than off last season, and you have to go back to 2021-22 to find the last time he posted a positive on/off rating. He’s been positive in only three of his 10 seasons.
That matters because the Hornets weren’t shopping for just any talent after the Ball trade. They needed a facilitator, and Brown doesn’t fill that role. On top of that, Charlotte’s wing group already includes Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller, which makes Brown an awkward overlap rather than a clean answer.
So yes, the Hornets technically could have matched Philadelphia’s offer. But when you weigh the money, the depth they’d have to sacrifice, and the roster fit, passing on it looks like the right call.
In Other News...
Hornets Finally Set Their Summer League Group And One Absence Stands Out
Charlotte has finally put its Summer League group on paper for the Vegas Classic, which starts July 9, and the roster gives an early look at how the Hornets want to sort out a few of their young pieces. Christian Anderson Jr. is listed as the teams point guard, Hannes Steinbach shows up as a forward/center, and Liam McNeeley is slotted strictly as a forward, small details that still help tell the story of how the club is viewing each player heading into the summer.
PJ Halls name is not on the roster, and that absence is the one that stands out most for a team trying to get a clean evaluation of its newest talent. The two-way player had been expected to be part of the group, so Charlotte will be moving forward without one more developmental body in the mix when the games begin in Las Vegas. [Read more 🡒]
Hornets Fans May Not Love What Charlotte Is Doing Next
The LaMelo Ball trade left Charlotte with a massive $40.7 million trade exception, giving the Hornets a rare bit of flexibility to absorb a player in a deal without having to send matching salary back. It is the kind of tool that can shape a roster-building plan for months, and for now the front office has time on its side, with the next real windows for action likely tied to the next trade deadline and the offseason after that.
Even so, the Hornets do not seem eager to force the issue. The market right now is thin, and the kind of players who would make sense are not always available within that exceptions range, which helps explain why Charlotte appears willing to wait and keep its options open. The exception can be held for roughly a year after the trade, so the real question is not whether the Hornets have a major asset to deploy, but when they will finally find the right deal to use it. [Read more 🡒]
Hornets Fans Just Got The LaMelo Ball News They Feared
The leagues latest trade wave has only made the East feel more crowded, and Charlottes long-term picture is suddenly a lot harder to read through that lens. Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, Miami and Orlando have all been part of the shuffle, with some familiar stars changing uniforms and contenders reworking their cores, while the Hornets are left to sort out where they fit in the new order.
For a team still trying to build something lasting around LaMelo Ball, the broader fallout matters almost as much as any single move. Charlotte has been one of the leagues pesky upstarts at times, but with rivals getting stronger around the conference, the margin for error looks even smaller now as the franchise tries to keep its footing in a much less forgiving landscape. [Read more 🡒]