The Hornets have used their open offseason roster spot again, this time bringing in Kyle Mangas and waiving Townsend.
Charlotte made a nearly identical move on Tuesday, when it signed Townsend and waived Josiah Allick. The pattern suggests the Hornets plan to keep cycling players through that lone available spot on their 21-man offseason roster as training camp approaches.
That setup can serve a couple of purposes. It helps teams secure G League rights, and it can also position players for Exhibit 10 bonuses if they are cut and then spend at least 60 days with the Greensboro Swarm. In some cases, it can do both.
Mangas is a familiar type of addition for this kind of maneuver. He spent part of last season on the Spurs’ roster as a two-way player, though he has not yet appeared in an NBA game.
In the G League, he played 35 games for the Austin Spurs and averaged 16.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 31.3 minutes per game. He also logged six games with France’s Chorale Roanne Basket and was on the Celtics’ Summer League roster in July.
The 6’4″ guard went undrafted out of Indiana Wesleyan in 2021 and has signed non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contracts before each of the last three seasons. Since turning pro, he has also played in the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Canada.
As for Townsend, he is headed to the Greensboro Swarm after clearing waivers so he can collect a bonus worth up to $91K under the terms of his Exhibit 10 deal.
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Hornets Latest Roster Move Comes With An Unexpected Greensboro Catch
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How Kobe Pushed For The Lakers Before A Draft Night Twist
Arn Tellem, Kobe Bryants original agent, recently revisited one of the most famous draft-night maneuvers in NBA history, a sequence that changed the course of the league and still echoes through Charlottes draft lore. The New Jersey Nets were set to take Bryant with the eighth pick in 1996, but Tellem helped steer the conversation toward the Lakers, where Jerry West was working to make sure Bryant landed in Los Angeles.
Wests answer was to line up a trade with Charlotte for the 13th pick, a move that kept Bryant within reach when the Lakers feared the draft board might not break their way. What followed became one of the defining swings of the era, as Bryants arrival set the stage for the championship core he later formed with Shaquille ONeal, while the Hornets place in the deal remained one of the drafts most enduring footnotes. [Read more 🡒]