For the first time in his NBA career, Coby White will play for a team besides the Bulls on Tuesday. However, the setting will be a familiar one. The seventh-year guard, who was traded from Chicago to Charlotte at this month’s deadline, will be making his Hornets debut at the Bulls’ United Center, his former home arena (Twitter link).
White, who turned 26 last Monday, was selected seventh overall in the 2019 draft by the Bulls and spent six-and-a-half seasons with the team before being sent to the Hornets in a four-player deadline deal that also saw Chicago acquire two second-round picks.
The Hornets were originally going to include three second-rounders in their package for White, but after a physical revealed a left calf injury that would sideline him for a few more weeks, the two teams agreed to amend the deal to remove one of those draft picks. White has now recovered from that calf injury and is ready to take the floor against his old team.
While White has been limited to 29 outings this season due to calf issues, he has remained an effective offensive weapon when healthy, averaging 18.6 points, 4.7 assists, and 3.7 rebounds in 29.1 minutes per game with a .438/.346/.805 shooting line.
Speaking on Tuesday to reporters, including Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic (Twitter link), White – who is on an expiring contract – said he and the Bulls talked earlier in the season about a possible future together beyond this year. However, he passed on an extension and said today that he expected to be traded at the deadline after word broke that the team had agreed to send out Kevin Huerter and Nikola Vucevic in separate deals.
“Things change,” he said. “The way the season was going, we weren’t stacking enough wins consistently.”
Tuesday’s matchup will feature two teams going in opposite directions. The Bulls are on a nine-game losing streak and are still seeking their first victory of the month, while the Hornets have bounced back from a 4-14 start to go 23-17 since then, with 11 wins in their past 14 games.
So glad to see Coby freed from the bulls. His amazing rookie season was disrupted by Covid and then when play resumed, it was disrupted by Levine and DeRozan. The bulls did everything in their power to mess up his development and future with the team.
However, stepping into a team led by LaMelo Ball isn’t optimal. I hope he gets a fair chance to show what he’s got and go into free agency to become a starter on a playoff team.
I predict the hornets will give up 15 more pts than normal and White will score 10-12.