BREAKING: Hornets trade Hayward to OKC for Mann, Bertans, Micic + draft compensation

BREAKING: Hornets trade Hayward to OKC for Mann, Bertans, Micic + draft compensation

All right I think I am possibly live okay great yes you never know with YouTube sometimes looks like I am live here on YouTube welcome into lockon hornets and the Hornets have made a trade and they have traded Gordon Hayward their second trade of the deadline if you count the move to send

Terry Rosier to Miami for a first round pick uh this deal coming together uh right before the the end of the deadline and it’s Gordon Hayward going to Oklahoma City and in return the Hornets get treyman they get Davis brons Davis bton they get meic and draft compensation vasilia meic is the latest

That we’re getting from W narowski interesting this deal was initially announced as Gordon Hayward for treyman and Davis brons and when I went to the old trade machine and bi boo bopped it the the money didn’t match like it seemed like OKC had to give up something

Else to to make the money match because not only did you need to match the total salary amount but I think there was some bonus compensation in there because uh Hayward had a trade kicker and so then just recently 20 minutes ago we got the update that meic on his rookie contract

Was going to be included in this deal as well as what w calls draft compensation which I think is going to end up being one maybe two second round picks because the Thunder as you may know have a lot of picks to play with and when the when the deal initially

Came down from W as being man man and bton I was like wait a minute you did a deal with Oklahoma City and didn’t get any picks in return like I don’t I don’t care who the player is like you you got to get so it’s like going into a toy

Store and coming out with like a a pizza like what how do you how do you go into a toy store and come out with a fully cooked pizza like I’m not mad at the pizza but like you went into a toy store how did you not come out with with you

Know one uh you know Cabbage Patch doll or something so we have to wait and figure out what exactly uh this this uh trade compensation is welcoming folks into the live broadcast right now too what’s going on that’s what we say when we go live too JD saying too as

Well Vanessa saying I’m surprised by this trade interesting Vanessa I would be curious what about the trade you’re surprised by is it what what is coming back to the Hornets is it the fact that they traded Gordon Hayward at all because even even though we had a few

Rumblings that you know Gordon Hayward wanted uh to return to Charlotte uh wanted to stay in Charlotte and you had even a couple of Whispers that hey maybe Charlotte was even thinking about bringing Gordon Hayward back um after his deal expired I I still think that trading Gordon Hayward was was always an

Option for the right package because for Charlotte if if your time line is some kind of 2 to threee retool or rebuild or whatever reword you want to use to describe what’s about to happen is is Gordon Hayward coming off the bench you know was was that

Something that fit that timeline and and were you willing to give any amount of money based on all of the injury history and the disappointing results that come you know from the totality of the Gordon Hayward experience and I think anyone you know that was looking at it

Fairly would say well Charlotte would be a little bit crazy to do that now not putting it past the franchise to do it but they would be a little bit crazy to do it what would the fan response to be be if Gordon even if the deal were

Reasonable what would that fan uh response be so I’m not terribly surprised by this at all because you’re getting it was a something or nothing scenario and with miles Bridges now saying you know his agent saying all right we’re we’re holding Pat we’re essentially exercising that no trade

Clause you know you’re not going to get any compensation there and you you’re you know according to W they’re looking to do a a full resign in the in the offseason and then it looks like talks around PJ to Dallas are fading a little bit Dallas if you haven’t heard they

Have acquired Daniel Gafford so they get a big they could certainly still go after PJ but the road to do that seems to be a little bit more difficult because according to reports Dallas had to go out and find the draft compensation just to make that Gafford

Deal happen so so how do they can they go do that again to make a a PJ deal happen I think that becomes you know less likely and so you come away with this trade deadline uh with something as I continue to like scroll up my feed to

Make sure I’m not missing anything here from uh these reports and we’ll get some news maybe during this broadcast maybe afterwards on exactly what that draft compensation is um Vanessa saying I’m surprised they were able to get rookie contracts that doesn’t kill future cap yes yes that is

Sort of let’s let’s get down into what the Hornets got in return here so you get Trey man former first round pick in in 2021 when the deal was first announced I think Shams had it Trey man 2021 uh draft first round draft pick and

I was like oh the Hornets got a first round round draft pi oh 2021 no that already happened but they get Trey man who was a first round draft pick so that that’s rookie deal you get his bird rights so when that deal comes up to be

Resigned you essentially get it kind of looks like a James book Night reset you get a a guard who was known in college for explosive scoring but came into the league uh with some varied results especially on the defensive end of the floor had started to see Improvement I

Want to read something thing that Ryland Styles gave me he is the host of locked on Thunder and I asked him for a little bit of a scouting report on these two guys when the deal was first announced uh Scouting Report more so like why did they fall out of the rotation because

Both man and brons were not part of the Thunders like night in Night Out rotation they had moved on from those guys so essentially you’re getting and meic too to a certain extent you’re getting a little bit of their scraps young scraps because OKC they want to

Contend now they want to go after this Western Conference playoff race right now and that’s why Gordon Hayward for them makes sense and they’re willing to part with you know whatever future depth these players would have allowed them uh to pursue and great deal for them because if the whole Gordon Hayward

Thing doesn’t turn out then that comes off the books for them and they can use all of their draft compensation that they have available to reset that depth but here’s what Ryland Styles told me on Twitter when I asked him why were bton and Ma and man on the outside looking in

And he said defense and depth uh Mark dagano prioritizes defense and while man improved in that area a lot this season he still wasn’t better than the other guards bons at the start of the year had that game’s played clause in his contract where they had to play him

Under 75% of games to be able to wave him at just $5 million in the summer since then bratans has changed to that in his deal and he can be waved for $5.2 million no matter how many games he plays but he still wasn’t good Off the Bench

Defensively uh he says man can really play though only been into games and garbage time this year but improved his playmaking and shot making this season along with understanding defensive effort now he won’t be a point of attack guy but he will give all out effort which seems like something that might be

A premium and Charlotte ouch Ryland I mean fair but ouch you know I mean yes they they do have effort issues especially on the defensive end of the floor so let’s start with the the financials of this okay you get man and you get meic both meic is short-term uh rookie deal that

That could be ejected almost immediately and I think let me give you the exact details on that okay so he’s making seven .7 million Mees and then 2425 he’s owed guaranteed 7.7 then there’s a club option in 2526 so meic uh second overall pick number 52 overall in 2014 and then spent

A long long time overseas and then OKC finally brought him over so he’s on this threey three-year deal with a club option really good playmaker by the assist numbers by the assist usage numbers but but that’s reasonable 7 million for you know a reserve playmaker and then you’ve got Trey man on his

Rookie contract and so the club is already exercised this season and next season and then you go to the qualifying offer from that point so man is on a show me rookie contract deal where you get the bird rights and then onto the Berton thing you look at that and you go

Oh my God Davis bton is owed $16 million next season what were the Hornets thinking and what they were thinking is he now has this clause in his contract where it doesn’t matter how many games he’s played the Hornets can be off the hook for that for a reasonable $5.2

Million within the context of NBA cap dealings and so you know they’re not on the hook for you know $16 million that’s a lot to weigh on your books even next season as they try to you know make some moves if this truly is a retool and not

A rebuild Mitch cjack said this isn’t a re build and now all signs are pointing to the fact that they’re going to resign miles Bridges long term I mean that gives you three core pieces in Miller Bridges and lamelo that’s probably you know if everybody stays healthy and they

Add some more depth in the off season could be enough to make a play and run I mean it’s not that’s not going to be bad enough to continue to stay in the seller of the Eastern Conference if if if if if right um so let’s head back to the chat

Here and then I’ll go into some of sort of the fit where where these guys are going to play if they’re going to play that kind of thing uh Jones Jones Jones Johns Jones says JT Thor gotta go well I mean JT Thor is on the you know outside

Looking in of the Hornets rotation right now so um yeah I mean I don’t I don’t know that he’s going to be around much much longer uh let’s see Deshawn saying young guard and picks on the way for Hayward I’m not mad at that yeah I mean that’s

The whole thing right it’s not Hayward picks and a bad contract you know with a player that’s older that’s not there’s no chance of him being part of your future right this is Trey man who a lot of people were excited about when he was drafted 18th overall in

2021 has the potential if the effort is there could have the potential to develop defensively under Steve Clifford if he’s willing to put in the work and and doesn’t need to be an elite Defender just be a good Defender at the point of attack don’t don’t be you know a

Revolving door there and and you’re going to get a chance at playing time especially if the shooting has returned for him because it seemed like after that second year in OKC the confidence was shot a little bit so this could be like classic young guy change of scenery

Could be a Malik monk situation right there I mean you know with Trey man there’s none of the as far as I know none of the sort of personal issues suspensions anything like that but monks you know when was in Charlotte his confidence was shot and defensively

There were question marks right and so he gets shipped to O he gets shipped to Sacramento or get sh away he moves to LA and then eventually goes to Sacramento and he’s after two changes of sceneries has been able to revive his career could we see a similar thing happening with

Trey man and and the Hornets get access to those bird rights so so if he does pop off for the rest of this season and next season if he does develop all of a sudden like you’re in the cat Birds to to you know retain guard depth which is

Exactly what this team needs you know especially with the question marks around L mellow balls Health any guard depth is good depth at this point uh Noah man saying my cousin finally back out east no I you know this is YouTube I’m not sure if you’re

Actually his cousin or not uh but that’s that’s great great if you are his cousin congratulations you’re now part of the Charlotte Hornets family welcome and we’re all sorry uh ignorant Enlightenment says I’m looking forward to this offseason yeah look whatever happens at this trade deadline the

Hornets are going to have more work to do in the off season and they’ll most likely be doing that with a new front office group so that I think excites you you know Mitch Mitch Cup’s job right now is to essentially break down most everything that was was built up

Previously but we’ll see that’s not a given either by the way you know we can’t take anything for granted we can’t make any kind of predictions at this point uh because you just never know Mitch cuup could be the general manager this off season um that’s certainly not

A done deal uh Jon Jones wants to know any news on book Knight no he’s out of the rotation uh he would probably pick up maybe some garbage minutes but I don’t know you’re adding players now that are that would you know bton and meic and

Man you know I I think no news I mean I think he’s on the outside of the rotation probably gone um as as soon as this offseason if not sooner hey bud says it’s a great move however it’s hilarious that Hayward just said he wanted to stay and then we ship

Him out I well I don’t know if you listen to the episode we we did a sort of predictions episode right before the this de these deals started to happen and we said look that’s the kiss of death that happened to Kelly Hub if you say you want to stay in

Charlotte it’s Oppo day you know it’s like all right well that guy’s got to go uh Deontay white saysi got to look more into the trade popped out of work from my lunch break to see this trade interesting yeah essentially the Hornets are bringing back a number of players

Two young players well Trey man is Young player uh meic because he spent a lot of time overseas what’s his actual age uh let’s see if this has so he’s 30 years old so he’s not a young player but he’s on a you know a contract $7.7 million

Club option two years from now um that’s that’s somewhat reasonable and then Trey man is 23 years old so that is you know you get a young guy you get uh a veteran playmaker and meic who spent some time overseas and you get bton who look the

Hornets need shooting you know if Bon who just absolutely lit the Charlotte Hornets up wherever he played it didn’t matter if he was in San Antonio or with the Wizards it was always his night when he came off the bench uh against the Charlotte Hornets and so you know if he

Can revive that it would certainly help but at the same time I just don’t see any scenario where they would be willing to sit on his $16 million next season I mean it’s almost a virtual guarantee that they will exercise the option to cut him at 52 at $5.2

Million uh Tumalo says when is Mark coming back no idea absolutely no idea no information from the team other than uh you know he can’t can do a little bit can’t do a lot pain I think they’re trying to probably rehab this thing without going to surgery because back

Surgery on big guy super concerning but that’s really all we have right now he’s continuing to try to rehab this it seems like every seems a very similar situation to Cody Martin in that they’ll rest and then try to ramp it up and in the ramping up process it’s like nope

That that’s too much pain can’t deal with that that’s hindering my ability to you know do the things that you want me to do so you know they they they move on all right so let’s continue to look at the I got to check Twitter real quick

And make sure that nothing else has happened while I’m sitting here live oh gosh new stuff from WJ anything here nope just another the Raptors man the Raptors are making moves they they’re addicted to this thing the Raptors trading Denny schrudder to the nets for

Spencer Den witty W all right so no more news on the Hornets as of now uh let’s see a lot of questions here that aren’t about the trade but I I’ll take them lamelo ankle braces I hope so I hope they figure something out to give him more support whether it’s you know

Building building muscle uh in those legs around that ankle or giving them additional support you know because it’s not just his future at this point it’s The Hornet’s future once they sign the max contract now every now everyone’s future is at stake uh but want to see

That guy stay on on the floor and I think they should look if something is uncomfortable let’s figure out can can it be can we stick with it and learn to love it can we find another solution there’s got to be look there’s enough money out there there are enough people

Doing these things around Sports Medicine there’s got to be a solution that can keep this guy on the floor uh it just seems like over under six and a half All-Star appearances for Brandon over I’m taking the I’m hammering the over baby I think this guy’s yeah just he’s going to be an

Annual Allstar it’s going to take you know may maybe next season is is the first opportunity because he’s already opening eyes and he’s going to have plenty of shots and opportunities if miles Bridges lets him to continue to be a threat to score 30 and you’re gonna even though you’re not

Winning you’re going to be making somewhat of an impression on because you’re a rookie you know you’re going to be in those same conversations with uh other top rookies that were taken this season and Chad hren last season that I think there’s going to be enough Buzz

Around you that you could if you continued into next season with those same kind of performances a lot like what uh Melo did with the Rookie of the Year and continued that on into year two and Par laid that into his first All-Star bid uh I think Brandon Miller

Could do the same might take some injuries you know he might be a replacement type of player in that second year but I think it could start then but you know with those with that over it’s all about health right is Brandon Miller going to stay healthy uh

As as he’s seen with lamelo like if you would have if you would have given me over under 6 and a half with Melo after the first All-Star bid I would have hammered that over and then now it’s like well I don’t know you know injuries are are brutal that

Way uh hen says good trade for the Hornets I think so you know I don’t think there were going to be a ton of huge deals out there for Gordon Hayward because of the threat of injury OKC was a rare team in that they had some of

These younger assets that were sort of withering on the vine they had uh this D Davis Bon’s very unique contract in that it 60 million $17 million this season could be used to get further to the Gordon Hayward number to make the salaries match but you could

Get out of it for 5.2 so it becomes a lot more of an attractive offer to trade for and then on top of that OKC is in a situation where they want to make the run now and Gordon Hayward provides them with that plus you know you’re not on

The hook for two or three more years of salary so if you need to make a pivot in the next offseason you can find out they’re in the find out mode you know they want to see what this young Corp can do in the offseason I don’t think they’re their Championship aspirations I

Think there are let’s get into the playoffs and make some noise and figure out who’s going to be you know part of that future in terms of role players and then let’s head into the next offseason and acquire the things that we think will actually get us to the championship so

It’s like a perfect opportunity for them and perfect opportunity for the Hornets to snag a young player and Trey man that could make an impact and help with uh guard depth and meic too um all right and meic also meic I mean that’s another deal that you could reflip in this

Coming off season you know you could wave that’s not that’s not a deal that you’re like oh man you know that’s going to sit on the books and and really weigh things down as well um Brandon saying I have no sound anybody else having those issues no sound anyone else having those issues

No sound coming from this uh broadcast right now let me know um and uh I’ll try to get that figured out uh that would be yeah that would be difficult if there have been no sound this entire time that’ be tough uh kind of give me give me some give me some

Word in the chat here if you’ve been able to hear anything or not let me know uh and we’ll figure that out um okay keeping okay so yeah looks like Brandon maybe uh double check your mute button uh okay it’s working now perfect um great thank you um let’s see that’s okay

Brandon yeah listen I there have been enough Tech issues on this show that I give people the benefit of the doubt I was like oh boy I mean I think I did a whole live show the other day that didn’t even make air I had to re-record

It later on because um I I didn’t hit go live so you know all part of the process okay let’s see here any more questions on this trade uh Joe here saying if these trades give the Hornets a stabilized roster for Clifford to work some of his magic and they make a mini

Run of wins in the second half will it allow Mitch to somehow keep his job always a possibility with the connections that Mitch has to Michael Jordan who is still part of this organization not an active part I don’t think but still part of the organization uh with his and and with

The new ownership group being schn and plen and their connections to Michael Jordan and Via that Mitch cup ja I don’t think If This Were A Matt be a situation where you had a Outsider by the team outright no relationship to Michael Jordan and bought out Michael Jordan

Completely then I would be on here right now telling you Mitch is gone absolutely 100% guarantee he’s not even gonna be part of this organization anymore that’s what I would tell you but I can’t tell you that I honestly I would not be shocked if Mitch cup settles back into a

Role as like an adviser for a future front office maybe scouting draft somewhere where he’s been a little bit more successful like that wouldn’t shock me at all and and if he sticks around for one more season that it would that would surprise me but it wouldn’t shock me

Okay there’s like levels to this right like I’m not having a heart attack I’m not like but I would be like oh okay well that’s that’s surprising that’s interesting um but I don’t think winning in the back half is going to affect that winning in the back half would affect Clifford

You know if he can turn if he can continue to to turn things around and get this team once all this trade noise leaves if he can get this team similar to what happened last season remember what happened last season the team after the All-Star break was excellent

Defensively was like top five top three in the league defensively after after the All-Star break I mean if he could do something like that where they’re getting surprising wins where they’re knocking Western Conference teams out of the playoffs a and they’re still dealing with injuries then yeah I think that

Could save Clifford’s job uh but then it would be on the new front office on this ownership group to finally give Clifford some tools that he can work with defensively I don’t know if Trey Mann is that you know you heard R you heard what I said earlier in the show with Ryland

Styles of locked on Thunder saying that the effort is there but are the tools there you know phys both physical and then just a sort of understanding defense are those going to be there is he committed will this change of scenery light a fire under him all of that remains to be

Seen but he’s not going to be you know whatever whatever maximum defensively he can hit I don’t think he’s going to be a guy that shuts down somebody at the point of attack you want him to not hurt you I don’t think he’s going to help you

Is what I’m saying there uh Daniel saying me is probably filler money in a trade next deadline yeah exactly yeah I mean but but look they need playmaking right now you know if if lamelo is going to continue to be out and rest you know RT rest that thing and if he’s still

Feeling pain don’t want him out there get 100% healthy this team if they are going to compete in the back half and and you know not they’re not going to make a run of the play in uh they but they could do some similar things that they did last season which is they

Didn’t destroy their chances at a top pick but at the same time they started to play better which is kind of important if a majority of your roster is going to be here next season it’s important that you develop it’s important that you get better but you’ve seen it’s more difficult for Brandon

Miller and Miles Bridges to exist without a primary playmaker maybe meic can be that without without lamelo on the floor uh and and then you pair that with what whatever you got from is or Cody Martin but Cody Martin at point guard ain’t cutting it it’s not fun to watch

And so maybe meic can do a little bit of that for uh the Hornets okay final so some final questions and then I’m G to bounce and I’ll pop back on here if we get a deal for PJ I guess that’s all that’s left although there were some whispers about

Nick Richards early in this sort of deadline Rumor Mill so you know watch out for that too sort of a sneak deal for Nick Richards although that would leave the Hornets uh terribly terribly thin um at the center position because you don’t return anything um you don’t return

Anything in this trade for that like DAV isn’t helping you there man and meic are are guard depth um let’s see scrolling making sure I’m not missing anything not we’re still on all right Detroit Pistons are waving Joe Harris I don’t think that’s going to be anyone that the Hornets are interested

In picking up that seems like uh maybe a contender that needs a little extra shooting let’s see uh zir D every day saying obviously we’re uh tanking for bronnie well you don’t even need to tank for Brony uh you really you would need if you want Brony you probably want to

Trade up into the late first round and sneak it’s going to be interesting where he lands right because he’s probably just like on Talent midc round I don’t know like maybe not even drafted and so then it’s going to be like which team decides I got an extra pick I’ll just I’ll I’ll

Roll the dice here take my chances see if that’s actually a thing um so you don’t even need to tank to do that though you would just need to sort of buy into the uh be willing to to burn a first rounder on it um let’s see yeah what about Nick

Richards do you think he’s traded possibility but man with Mark Williams being such a giant question mark as to whether he returns it all this season yeah that would it’s going to be you know and then it’s like well will they trade PJ cuz you’re not trading PJ and

Nick I think I mean that would be that’d be crazy who’s gonna play center like miles miles Center like hey miles thanks for sticking around put on these platform shoes because you’re about to be guarding um you know Elite centers in the league that’ be crazy I don’t know um all

Right Cody saying just don’t trade Bridges well according to Rich Paul they are not going to be able to trade Bridges bridges has to sign off on the deal according to his agent they’re not doing that so I think you’re you don’t have to worry about that will the

Hornets now trade PJ that’s the big question I mean the the one team well there were two teams on the radar Clippers and Mavs I think the Mavs most likely took themselves out of the sweep Stakes for PJ by going out and getting gaffer and and and that deal included ran Holmes

So you know would the Hornets take Josh green and multiple second rounders for PJ I don’t think they’re doing Josh green and a protected first I you know I think you try to get them to do that but if the Hornets don’t want to move forward with PJ and they want Josh Green

You know we’ll we’ll see what happens as we close in here on the 3:30 deadline but you know that that may be what’s what’s being talked about right now and maybe a who’s going to Blink situation and the gaffer deal you know if you’re Charlotte do you look at that and go

Well all right maybe we do need to Blink here I don’t know I don’t know I bet it’s tight I bet I bet those discussions oh and we’ve got a Pete as I’m talking about it we’ve got a PJ trade so you know what um I will stick around I guess

I’m I’m never leaving I am live uh here and I’m not going anywhere because we will continue to talk about this all right wge one minute ago the Charlotte Hornets are finalizing a trade to send PJ Washington to the Dallas Mavericks for Grant Williams Seth Curry and a

First round pick all right PJ traded fleece the Mavs PJ to the Mavs and a first round pick Seth Curry the hometown kid coming home Grant Williams the hometown kid coming home this is kind of funny right like for for years under Michael Jordan the Charlotte Hornets

Were uh accused of sort of being biased towards taking players from UNCC uh when actually they were biased towards taking players from Kentucky and and here we are under new ownership group and now it seems like they’re biased towards trading for players uh that have spent

At least some part of their youth in Charlotte and you get Grant Williams and Seth Curry uh and a first round draft pick and so Grant Williams was the player that the Hornets honestly had an opportunity to trade for uh or I mean I’m Excuse me sign in the off season for

That mid-level exception they opted to hard ball PJ Washington they got him for a little less than the midlevel exception Dallas pays the midlevel exception for Grant Williams that didn’t work out Grant Williams had all but fallen out of the Mavs rotation they just were not in love

With with what was happening there and we I’ll get some more Intel from Nick angat on on why exactly uh that happened what were the inner workings there uh but Seth Curry you know may give you a little extra shooting Grant Williams um somewhat well known for his defensive

Intensity uh known for abil sort of onoff ability to shoot and you get but most importantly most importantly first round pick now is the first round pick protected because that’s really important with Dallas because that future is you you got Luca is Luca enough without Kyrie and you

Know in a couple years because this first rounder is probably a good ways away in the future I would think so what does that whole situation look like then is it a protected pick where it’s like oh man well now now the maps stink and they’re in the lottery

But the Hornets don’t have access to the pck but even if that even if that’s the case even if it is a protected first round pick okay and it’s in 2027 28 29 whatever that’s an asset right now you’ve got an asset from Miami you’ve got a first round pick there you’ve got

A first round pick from Dallas okay you’re combining these future assets and if you did want to retool as soon as this off season by the way players that come available via trade around the draft well now you’ve got I mean you could package three three

Or four first round picks and acquire a player because look Charlotte has a has difficulty convincing players in free agents to even entertain interviews about coming to Charlotte not because the city stinks uh not because uh there’s no ability to generate extra income via ad deals or anything crazy

Like that it’s because the Hornets don’t win so you’ve got to do something like Cleveland uh did with Donovan Mitchell or like Minnesota did with Rudy goar and say all right you rebuilding team that wants to tear down that might be Cleveland honestly here’s three or four picks and

Give us you know give us an asset um all right so let’s uh check this out here on the chat yeah no Frank you’re right he Grant has been bad I’m I’m telling you what Grant what the promise of Grant but yes he was bad in Dallas that’s why he’s

Being traded just at right after they they made the signing uh W just said lightly protected on that pick all right so lightly protected you know what is that probably means maybe one year of Lottery protection um top two protected all right 2027 top two protected um is is

The deal there so yeah I mean that’s likely to convey one would think unless things go really sour um Brandon saying love these trades um uh Dex saying Rick schal is sick of this MJ bleep uh Lewis doesn’t like the trades these trades are terrible why Lex why are these trades terrible

Elaborate um Lowry can’t get bought out because then a contender can sign oh he could definitely get I mean if he wants to if he wants to get bought out then he can can get bought out yeah he won’t be able to play with a contender but do

Contenders want Kyle Lowry that’s what his agent will have to sort of find out for him um yeah so look I I I would have loved to have Josh green but you get the lightly protected first round pick so you probably meet in the middle somewhere where it’s like well they

Would rather have the draft compensation than have Josh green um and you know I think that’s the better deal the Hornets because again it makes it’s not about that necessarily about that pick conveying it’s about the fact that you could package that in a deal and it’s

Much more attractive to have a top two protected pick than have a top 14 protected pick in in 2027 um so that’s huge now here’s a question I like this question Douglas saying who is getting waved after these trades because look man they’ve now added five more players to the roster so

And they’ve they’ve exited two players so that’s plus three that means that somebody’s got to go I mean I would say uh because they did not have three roster spots available so I I think you know your your obvious candidates are book knight uh I think JT Thor another candidate

Um you know is schmith possibly with bringing in both meic and man um you know you just shake is’s hands and and say thanks for helping us out now you can you know he he said before or after he was signed to Charlotte he said that

He was spelling out retire he was about to retire he was on the letter you know I and retire and then they got the phone call well you just say ish thank you for all you’ve done we the mid the mid-range shot uh we appreciate those couple of

Buckets you gave us and uh now enjoy retirement uh so I think that might be um might be a situation there but this stuff is going to move fast and uh Grant on the books for 13 million a year until uh yeah I mean you

Know the grant thing is you have to take into consideration what the timeline is at this point for the Charlotte Hornets they’re looking at all right let’s probably put together a playoff roster two or three seasons from now and and in the meantime we can you use some

Of these tools to compete but you know a lot of these contracts yeah you’re you’re going to play some of these out and you know look to move them at that point I think all of the contracts that they brought in sort of fit that timeline um so let’s see the Mavericks are

Trading their last available first round pick 2027 to Charlotte to acquire PJ Washington this is from Mark Stein but have managed to realize their objective of keeping Josh green out of the trade I mean that’s what these trades are about right I mean somebody’s got to win uh

Everybody’s got to win you know both both teams have to walk away thinking that they’ve won some part of the trade and for the Hornets it wasn’t about getting the best player in the deal it was about getting that asset and I think that’s sort of the umbrella takeaway

From what we’ve seen so far in these trades is that the Hornets are asset hunting right now which should excite you as a fan because I don’t think they’re if that combined with the fact if they really are serious about extending miles Bridges you have to take

All of that and think okay they’re not necessarily asset hunting to then go and use those picks to acquire young players they’ve done that already and they’re keeping some of their young players and they’ve got Brandon Miller and lamelo on good trajectories so you got to be thinking they’re they’re accumulating these

Assets for some kind of future trade not well let’s go out and get a first rounder from Dallas in the hopes that they land in the lottery and now now we’ve got a free lottery pick you know I think they I think Rick schn and gay

Plot can have visions of doing a Donovan Mitchell Rudy gobear type of or Drew holiday um sort of situation where like in 2026 when Brandon Miller is an all-nba level player when lamelo is fully healthy and ascending to where we all think he can Ascend to then you’re

Thinking okay now we go out and make the move for the guy um that that can really get us into the playoffs and make some noise um so let’s see Turtle Master saying we won both trades do you agree I think that everybody got what they wanted this is not a satisfactory

Answer all right listen all right here I’ll satisfy your need for uh you know because you’re you’re like me you’re a sicko and you know we need a little positivity yes the Charlotte Hornets won the trade they got the assets uh they got a little bit of guard depth they got

A lot of bit of guard depth uh and uh they managed to re shake this roster up and and bring some players in too that I think are going to give them an intensity boost uh and they acquire the assets and they get something for nothing with

Gordon Hy so yes they won the trades but I’ll also say that nobody got fleeced everybody got something that they wanted in these deals these are good deals for all teams involved Oklahoma City you get a player with with some veteran Savvy that that can come in and help some of

These young guys out a little bit have some playoff experience and uh if he stays healthy can help them make some noise if you’re Dallas you keep Josh green out of the deal you get some forward help you are erase the mistake you probably should have gone after PJ

Washington in the offseason you get to essentially hit the reboot on that so yeah I mean I I think everybody got something out of this um Adam saying I think PJ will do well in Dallas hope so go for it go make some here’s the thing with

PJ I I think his value in that previous offseason was limited by the fact that no one had seen him in in any kind of postseason action well he’s going to have that opportunity now one would think um and so that’s only going to help him in whatever next contract situation that he

Has and he’s from Dallas I I don’t think PJ’s sad that he’s leaving Charlotte you know he didn’t play like he was super sad or he didn’t play like he was like you know dying to remain in the teal and purple um Cody saying we need a great rebounding big like

Drummond uh certainly in the long term be great this team’s not a great rebounding team but you really need more guys that are just committed to rebounding in general I you know I mean I think Mark and Nick are you know together would be fine rebounding it’s just you don’t have

Enough guys at the guarden forward position that are like committed to going after basketballs when they’re loose long rebounds hitting the floor you just don’t you see it a little bit you see guys do it occasionally but you don’t see it at the level that you see some of these other playoff teams

Operating so I mean that’s really uh Le would like Caruso well the price was too high on Caruso I mean they wanted they wanted like multiple first rounders for that guy so that didn’t make any sense and that’s the other thing to point out too the Hornets didn’t do anything

Insane all this stuff that has happened so far is in line with what everyone was thinking Charlotte was going to do and so at least I can say that the Charlotte Hornets are acting rationally they didn’t go out and give up multip first round picks to acquire Caruso or do

Something else that would completely flip the timeline from what everybody was sort of thinking you know I think they’re doing stuff that’s in line with some kind of strategy that I think hopefully the ownership group will make more clear as we close in on this next off season any predictions about low Bri

Yeah I think it happens I mean that’s my prediction I I don’t especially the fact that they brought in all these cards I where’s like what they going to do with Lowry I think he does accept a buyout eventually uh man is a point guard right

Yeah uh he’s meech is just kind of a combo guard man is a three-point shooting point guard effort Defender according to Ryland styles of Oklahoma of locked on Thunder um what are the so he’s I had his stats up here treay man 65 they have him as combo guard so 65

Yeah taller point guard maybe a little bit of shooting guard um but yeah points look if you look at his points per shot attempt over his first two seasons not very good assist percentage I mean he’s not a playmaker um at least not by the stats

You know but that’s the thing with the Trey man deal is like you’re getting a guy and hoping that he turns everything around because of a change of scenery because it seems he lost his confidence in Oklahoma City and then all of these guards jumped him in the in the

Rotation and um you know you’re hoping you’re hoping man can turn all of that around Chris saying I’m going to miss PJ Washington he was here for like five years it’s amazing yeah I mean he was he was a staple and he came in I mean

Remember when he came in first game ever rookie season seven three-pointers made that was nuts you know what a way to introduce yourself uh but never really definitely hit a ceiling and and was never really going to I don’t think there was any hope of him um crashing through that ceiling but

You know one of the look there haven’t been a lot of players in Hornet’s history that have scored 40 points PJ is one of them and he did it twice uh star Knight saying trade Bridges to the Suns that’s not going to happen Rich Paul his agent already said

Um they’re they’re standing Pat and W said that the Hornets are interested in signing him long term doesn’t mean they’re going to be able to I think the if he continues look Bridges staying in Charlotte means that he’s going especially if Melo is not going to be

Available for a while you know bridg is going to have plenty more opportunities to put up 40 points he can stat pad if he wants to it’ll be interesting to see if miles Bridges plays like a guy who wants a big contract in the offseason or if he tries

To if if his relationship with Steve Clifford is good enough where he can play you know more more of a like all right I can sacrifice a little bit for the team if if it means we’re going to get wins uh Walker Martin saying we need to collect the curries like Infinity

Stones Steph to Charlotte it’s in it is inevitable uh and Daniel saying Bridges signning trade that’s obvious yeah that’s another possibility you sign Bridges um and and move him to Detroit or Indiana or wherever his next or or the Clippers and you do some kind of sign and trade for Bridges

That’s that’s a possibility as well Lots you know if you take anything away from this trade deadline so far it’s that the Hornets have a ton of options in front of them now like the future isn’t that much clear but they have a lot more flexibility now um that they’ve acquired

Some of these assets and Bryant yeah this is the main point we potentially have three first round picks in 2027 hopefully by then we can use them to trade for a piece to help us contend exactly I mean I think that’s you know if the if if the the

Timeline is coming together that seem seems to be where it’s coming maybe 2026 would be the year that you mark on and say all right that’s going to be the year where they you know hopefully next season or the season after that they make a

Run and get into the playoffs and make a little bit of noise and then that’s going to justify all right let’s go out and get a All-Star caliber player with these picks and you know let’s go let’s go make this thing happen um Mr self-destruct hornet done for the

Day or any minor moves to come I think this might be it honestly um I don’t you know I would be I would be surprised if there’s anything else at this point I mean other than they’ve got to figure out who’s getting waved because I don’t

You know all of these players uh there just aren’t enough seats on the bench at this point there there have got to be some moves um so okay uh that’s going to do it I’ve got to go probably get un locked on NBA and talk about this deal as well

Um if anything else happens I’ll be back a little bit later and then tomorrow Walker and I will get together in the morning we’ll have a little bit more time to figure out what all of this means and have some more information for you um and and discuss sort of what the

Implications are I’m very curious what Walker thinks about all of this and we might hear from Mitch cjack too or might not we might hear from motor ship group that we’re not hearing from M cup anymore anything is possible at this point with the Charlotte Hornets thanks so much for joining me live

Really appreciate it um go check out uh the uh the feed on Twitter every Hornets box score I’ll be we’ve got a few more games before the uh before the All-Star break so I’ll be recapping all of those uh we’ll see who suits up when until then for Walker I’m Doug saying go

Hornets go America

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