With the Hornets making a flurry of big moves over the last week, it’s fair to wonder whether Jeff Peterson is still cooking. Maybe there’s another deal coming.
Maybe not. But if Charlotte does keep dealing this summer, a few names stand out as the most likely to be involved.
Ryan could easily be one of them. That’s not a knock on him at all.
It’s just the reality that big men are always in demand, and he’s the biggest body on the Hornets’ roster. As a rookie, he went beyond expectations, putting up 7.5 points and 5.5 rebounds while shooting 75% from the field and blocking 1.5 shots.
Around the league, that kind of production from a 7-1 center tends to catch attention. NBA front offices have long believed they can unlock more in young centers, and Ryan fits that mold as a potential trade chip.
Grant is another name worth watching, though for a different reason. His situation has more to do with roster math than anything else.
Tre Mann would be in this spot too if he weren’t a restricted free agent and more valuable. Grant, a Providence Day product, would be a sentimental move for Charlotte fans if he were traded, but he also gives the Hornets a smaller frontcourt piece in a group that already includes two 6-9 centers.
He averaged 7 points and 3.9 rebounds last season, and his value is tied more to his energy and attitude than the box score. That makes him a natural candidate to be part of a larger package.
The Hornets apparently have no interest in moving Naz Reid, even as they still look for a rim-protecting big. That leaves Allen and O'Neale as two more players to keep an eye on.
Allen brings the most obvious scoring punch, coming off a season in which he averaged 16.8 points per game. O'Neale, meanwhile, is the kind of 3&D wing contending teams always want to add.
If Charlotte does make another move, either player could help bring back the kind of frontcourt help the roster still needs.
In Other News...
Hornets Just Made A Pat Connaughton Move With A Catch
Charlotte has picked up Pat Connaughtons team option for the 2026-27 season, a move that keeps the veteran wing in the fold after he served as a reserve piece for the Hornets last year. The contract carries a $3,815,861 salary, and the structure gives the team a little more room to manage the roster while still benefiting from Connaughtons experience and presence in the locker room.
The catch is in the timing, because the money does not become guaranteed until January. That leaves Charlotte with an open-ended decision point later in the season, and it is exactly the kind of flexibility front offices tend to like when they are trying to balance future cap planning with a veteran who still has a role to play. [Read more 🡒]
Hornets Suddenly Face A Familiar Backcourt Decision After LaMelo Shakeup
LaMelo Balls departure has left Charlotte revisiting a question it knows well: how to stabilize the backcourt without forcing the rest of the roster to stretch beyond its comfort zone. With Coby White moving into the starting role, the Hornets are now weighing what comes next behind him, and the answer may not be simple in a market that does not offer many clean solutions. They do have a sizable trade exception to work with, which gives the front office room to explore guard help if the right opportunity surfaces.
Collin Sexton is the kind of name that naturally comes up in that conversation, especially given the organizations previous familiarity with him. Jeff Peterson has already made clear that Sextons competitiveness and shotmaking left an impression during his time with the Hornets, and the fit is easy enough to understand from Charlottes perspective. The complication is timing and leverage, because the team still has options to sift through before any reunion becomes the obvious path. [Read more 🡒]
Hornets Suddenly Face A Franchise Defining All In Decision
Charlottes front office has spent the last several moves quietly building optionality, and the reason is getting harder to ignore: the Hornets have enough incoming capital now to at least think bigger than another patient reset. With LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges already sent through separate trade paths that helped reshape the asset base, Charlotte has given itself a chance to enter the market for a star who could change the direction of the franchise rather than simply patch a hole.
Jaylen Brown is the name that keeps hanging over that conversation, even as the team weighs the fit, the cost and what a real all-in swing would mean for the rest of the roster. The draft picks and players in play would matter, of course, but so would the larger question Charlotte has to answer soon: whether it is ready to turn all that accumulated flexibility into one high-end commitment, or keep waiting for a cleaner path that may never come. [Read more 🡒]