The Hornets are coming off their most encouraging season in years, and while they have a locked-in core three of LaMelo Ball, Kon Knueppel, and Brandon Miller, they still have decisions to make on how best to complement the high-powered offensive trio.
Despite not being as firmly a part of the starting lineup of the future, Coby White and Moussa Diabate should be considered “not going anywhere” candidates, Roderick Boone writes for the Charlotte Observer.
Diabate is on the last year of a very team-friendly deal while providing the team with a strong source of offensive rebounding and helping to stabilize the team’s center position. White is expected to stay with the Hornets after the team traded for him at this season’s deadline, and have his full Bird rights.
Miles Bridges is the top name on the watch list category for players who could be on the move, as are Pat Connaughton, Josh Green, Tre Mann, and Grant Williams.
We have more from around the Southeast Division:
- The Hornets hosted four players for pre-draft workouts on Wednesday: Christian Anderson (Texas Tech), Anthony Dell’orso (Arizona), Mark Mitchell (Missouri), and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (Alabama), per Boone (Twitter link). Anderson, a smooth shooter and pick-and-roll operator, is the highest-ranked player of that group, coming in at 18 on Jeremy Woo’s big board for ESPN. Given that the Hornets have picks 14 and 18, Anderson could be under consideration with one of their first-round picks.
- Barring a trade, including a Giannis Antetokounmpo deal, the Heat will have the 13th pick in the 2026 NBA draft, along with pick 41. They have begun hosting pre-draft workouts, with Ezra Ausar (USC) coming in on Friday, per SNY’s Ian Begley (Twitter link). They will also bring in Bryce Hopkins (St. John’s) next week, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Hopkins, a fifth-year senior, is only a career 32.4% shooter from three, but he has raised that average to 36.6% over the last two seasons.
- The Hawks have two main paths they have to choose between as they look to keep building on last year’s encouraging season. They could free up to $32MM in cap space and be a free agency player, or they could stay over the cap while prioritizing re-signing their players and working the trade market, Spotrac’s Keith Smith writes in his offseason preview. Either way, one priority should be to add more size, even if they keep reserve big man Jock Landale. Since they own two first-round picks, it would make sense to target a big man with one of them, Smith writes.