Jeff Peterson has already reshaped the Hornets this offseason, and the volume of it caught even the people expecting moves off guard. Charlotte traded LaMelo Ball, Miles Bridges and Josh Green, brought in Naz Reid, Dorian Finney-Smith, Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale, re-signed Coby White, and drafted Hannes Steinbach and Christian Anderson Jr.
It reads like a finished offseason, but Peterson still has work to do. Charlotte is carrying too many contracts and needs to clear roster space, and one real hole remains before camp.
The Hornets need a backup point guard
Coby White is a good player and will hold up fine as the starter in Buzz City, but one man can’t cover 48 minutes a night. Behind him, Charlotte is set to lean on some mix of Christian Anderson Jr., Sion James and Tre Mann. Anderson has a chance to be good, though his Summer League showing hinted he isn’t ready for that job yet, and neither James nor Mann profiles as a reliable option to run an offense.
The clean fix is a backup point guard. The free-agent market doesn’t offer much: Russell Westbrook, Gabe Vincent and Aaron Holiday are the names available, and none seems like a fit Charlotte wants.
A trade makes more sense, and Peterson has the pieces for it. The smart target is a guard on a short deal, two years or fewer, so Anderson has time to develop before sliding into the backup role. An expiring contract would be ideal, but even a two-year deal gives Charlotte something it can flip in 2027-28. The $40.7 million trade exception from the Ball deal helps too.
Those parameters narrow the field, but a few names still fit. Kyrie Irving, Jrue Holiday, Dejounte Murray and Fred VanVleet all have two years or fewer left and could shake loose depending on injuries or how their teams are built. Holiday stands out here, in part because Charles Lee has coached him twice, and Portland happens to have a surplus of guards. If not Holiday, the other names work as well. Charlotte just has to land one, whether that means moving Grant Williams’ expiring contract plus more or using the trade exception.
