Charlotte Hornets Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Hornets Sign DJ Rodman, Cut Marcus Garrett

September 22nd, 2025 at 5:08pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Hornets have signed free agent forward DJ Rodman and cut guard Marcus Garrett, the club announced (Twitter link).

Rodman, the son of Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman and brother to NWSL superstar Trinity, has been in the G League since going undrafted out of USC in 2024. He split his 2024/25 season with the Capital City Go-Go and Maine Celtics. Most recently, he suited up for Charlotte’s Summer League squad.

Rodman logged five collegiate seasons with Washington State and the Trojans, averaging 6.1 PPG on .411/.354/.764 shooting. The 6-foot-6 wing also averaged 4.2 RPG, 1.0 APG and 0.5 SPG across his 143 NCAA games.

Exact details of the contract have yet to be divulged, but it is likely to be an Exhibit 10 training camp deal for the 24-year-old. Garrett had also been inked to an Exhibit 10 contract.

Assuming Rodman and Garrett sign G League contracts and spend at least 60 days with the Hornets’ NBAGL affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm, each player will be eligible to earn a bonus worth up to $85,300 on top of his base G League salary.

Exhibit 10 signings can be promoted to two-way contracts, but at present, all three of Charlotte’s two-way contract slots are occupied.

Armando Bacot Explains Why He Chose Europe Over Hornets

September 22nd, 2025 at 9:25am CST by Arthur Hill

Armando Bacot was expecting to sign with the Hornets when the summer began, but he changed his mind when he got an opportunity with Fenerbahce. In an interview with Bugra Uzar of Eurohoops, Bacot explains why he chose to go to Istanbul rather than try to secure an NBA contract.

“Early in the summer, I got offers from a couple of EuroLeague teams, not Fenerbahce though, and I intended to sign with the Charlotte Hornets,” he said, “But Fenerbahce called me. I got a chance to talk with the coach (Sarunas Jasikevicius) and with some people who play here and have been around this atmosphere. I liked what they said, and it was a no-brainer.”

The 25-year-old big man signed an Exhibit 10 contract with Memphis last September after going undrafted out of North Carolina. He was waived before the start of the season and played for the Grizzlies’ G League affiliate, the Memphis Hustle, where he averaged 18.2 points and 9.5 rebounds in 34 games. He was selected to participate in the 2025 Up Next event at the NBA’s All-Star weekend.

Bacot said he was influenced by the chance to play for Jasikevicius, who coached Fenerbahce to the EuroLeague title last season. He compares the atmosphere to being with the Tar Heels.

“It’s great because you have huge fan bases and big brands,” Bacot said. “You gotta be built to be able to play in environments like these because obviously the fans are passionate, the coaches, players, the community, everyone’s passionate, so it’s a good type of thing to be a part of. I’ve been blessed to be able to be a part of some great teams in college, but also put up some great performances that’re up there with some of the greats, so I’m just thankful.”

Bacot discussed the demands of playing a EuroLeague schedule along with domestic competition in Turkey, and he credited new teammates Devon Hall and Khem Birch with making his adjustment to European basketball easier.

Bacot also indicated that he would consider remaining in Europe for the rest of his career.

“It’s great basketball,” he said. “You see around here, it’s beautiful. They treat you just like the NBA, so I’m definitely open to staying here if it’s the right situation.”

Hornets’ Josh Green, Grant Williams To Miss Training Camp

September 20th, 2025 at 12:01pm CST by Rory Maher

Hornets wing Josh Green and forward Grant Williams will both miss training camp as they continue to recover from their respective injuries, head coach Charles Lee recently told reporters, including Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer.

Green underwent left shoulder surgery in June, while Williams tore the ACL and meniscus in his right knee last November.

According to Boone, Lee said both players are making progress, but neither has a specific timeline to return, though Williams is apparently a little further along in his recovery.

Given that Green and Williams miss training camp, which begins September 30, it’s possible neither player will be active for Charlotte’s regular season opener on Oct. 22.

Here are few more items of interest from Boone’s story:

In addition to making on-court strides this offseason, Brandon Miller has also impressed Lee by becoming a vocal leader, Boone writes. In particular, Miller has been mentoring fellow 2023 first-round pick Nick Smith Jr. Miller is another Hornet whose ’24/25 season was cut short — he underwent right wrist surgery in January. He said in late July the wrist was close to fully healed.
Lee wants LaMelo Ball to become a locker-room leader as well and thinks trade addition Collin Sexton will help with that, per Boone. While Lee said Ball has made strides on defense, he still wants the team’s highest-paid player to be more consistent on that end of the court.
Each of Charlotte’s 2025 draft picks — Kon Knueppel, Liam McNeeley, Sion James and Ryan Kalkbrenner — will receive minutes during the preseason, according to Lee, who thinks big man Kalkbrenner could eventually have a career similar to Brook Lopez.

Hornets Sign Marcus Garrett, Waive Brandon Slater

September 20th, 2025 at 11:38am CST by Rory Maher

The Hornets continue to make changes to the back end of their roster ahead of training camp, having signed free agent guard Marcus Garrett, the team announced (via Twitter).

In a corresponding move, forward Brandon Slater has been released.

While the terms of Garrett’s contract were not revealed, it’s likely to be an Exhibit 10 deal, which would make him eligible for a bonus worth up to $85,300 if he’s waived before the season begins and spends at least 60 days with the Hornets’ G League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm.

Garrett, who went undrafted out of Kansas in 2021, appeared in 12 NBA games while on a two-way contract with the Heat as a rookie, but he has spent most of his professional career in the G League, including the past two seasons with the Swarm. He signed a 10-day hardship contract with the Hornets in March and appeared four NBA games, averaging 7.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in 19.8 minutes per contest.

Known as a solid defender, Garrett played 42 games (29.7 MPG) for the Swarm in 2024/25, averaging 10.4 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 3.8 APG and 1.5 SPG on .451/.298/.705 shooting.

Garrett will fill Charlotte’s 21st and final roster spot for the time being.

Hornets Sign Brandon Slater, Waive Keyontae Johnson

September 19th, 2025 at 1:16pm CST by Rory Maher

The Hornets have signed Brandon Slater, the team announced in a press release (via Twitter). In a related move, Keyontae Johnson has been waived.

A 6’8″ forward, Slater went undrafted in 2023 after five college seasons at Villanova. He signed an Exhibit 10 contract with Boston two years ago, was cut, and spent the 2023/24 season in the G League with the Maine Celtics.

Instead of returning to the NBAGL, Slater signed with GS Lavrio of Greece’s top basketball league. In 24 games (19.5 MPG) with the Greek club, Slater averaged 7.4 PPG and 3.0 RPG on .444/.344/.771 shooting.

Slater most recently suited up for Charlotte at the California Classic and Las Vegas Summer Leagues, averaging 5.8 PPG, 2.9 RPG and 1.1 SPG in eight appearances (17.7 MPG).

While the 26-year-old will fill the Hornets’ final roster spot for now, he likely signed an Exhibit 10 deal and will be waived in the coming days. If that comes to fruition, Slater will be eligible for a bonus worth up to $85,300 if he spends at least 60 days with the Greensboro Swarm — the Hornets’ G League affiliate — in ’25/26.

Hornets Sign Keyontae Johnson

September 18th, 2025 at 2:33pm CST by Luke Adams

After opening up a roster spot earlier today by waiving DaQuan Jeffries, the Hornets have signed forward Keyontae Johnson, the team announced (via Twitter).

Details of the agreement weren’t revealed, but it figures to be a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contract, which will make Johnson eligible for a bonus worth up to $85,300 if he’s waived by Charlotte and then spends at least 60 days with the team’s G League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm.

The Swarm already hold Johnson’s returning rights since he spent last season with the Hornets’ NBAGL team. In 46 outings for Greensboro, he averaged 16.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 30.5 minutes per game while shooting 49.3% from the field and 37.5% from beyond the three-point arc.

Johnson, 25, was the 50th overall pick in the 2023 NBA draft and spent his rookie season on a two-way contract with Oklahoma City, making nine NBA regular season appearances in ’23/24.

Having swapped out Jeffries for Johnson, the Hornets once again have a full 21-man roster, though more moves are likely coming as the team prepares for training camp and the preseason.

Hornets Waive DaQuan Jeffries

September 18th, 2025 at 10:12am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Hornets have waived wing DaQuan Jeffries, Rod Boone of the Charlotte Observer tweets. The team has confirmed the move (Twitter link).

Jeffries was signed through the 2026/27 season but his three-year contract was non-guaranteed for this season and next. His $2,743,776 salary for 2025/26 would have been fully guaranteed if he had remained on the roster through January 7.

The move wasn’t surprising. As we pointed out recently, waiving Jeffries was the most likely scenario to help deal with the team’s roster crunch. He was sent to Charlotte via the Knicks last October as part of the Karl-Anthony Towns multi-team blockbuster.

Jeffries, 28, appeared in a career-high 47 games, including 20 starts, last season. He averaged 6.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists while shooting 40.5 percent from the field and 33.5 percent beyond the arc. He has also had stints with Sacramento, Houston and Memphis. Overall, he has seen action in 111 NBA games.

Charlotte now has 20 players on its training camp roster, leaving one open spot ahead of the preseason. The Hornets still have 16 players on guaranteed deals and another on a non-guaranteed contract, so they still have some work to do to trim the roster to 15 by opening night.

Early Look At Hornets’ Potential Roster Crunch

September 14th, 2025 at 12:53pm CST by Rory Maher

Barring a trade (or two), Charlotte will be facing a roster crunch this fall.

As our tracker shows, the Hornets currently have a full offseason roster, with 18 players on standard contracts (16 guaranteed) and all three two-way spots filled. They need to trim their standard roster down to 15 players before the regular season begins.

None of the players on standard deals are signed to training camp contracts, and until the Hornets free up roster spots, they will be unable to finalize Exhibit 10 deals with players who will be headed to their G League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm, to open the 2025/26 season. That likely won’t play a factor in the roster battle, but it’s worth mentioning nonetheless.

Here’s the list of players currently on standard contracts, sorted by how much money they make:

* Denotes non-guaranteed contract.

Outside of maybe Miller and Knueppel, it wouldn’t totally surprise me if Charlotte decided to eventually trade virtually anyone on the roster. But for the sake of this exercise, we’ll assume that Ball, Bridges, Sexton, Green, Williams, Salaun, McNeeley, James and Kalkbrenner won’t be on the move in the next five-plus weeks.

The Hornets re-signed Mann to a guaranteed three-year, $24MM contract in free agency and he can’t be traded until January 15. It’s safe to say he won’t be waived before the season begins.

Dinwiddie and Plumlee were also free agent additions and neither can be dealt until Dec. 15. Although they both received guaranteed contracts, they’re only earning the veteran’s minimum in 2025/26.

Either Dinwiddie or Plumlee could theoretically be cut this fall, but it would be a little strange to sign a player to a guaranteed deal only to release him before he suits up for a regular season contest. It’s certainly an option, especially if one gets hurt, but it seems fairly unlikely right now.

By process of elimination, that likely leaves four players — Connaughton, Smith, Jeffries and Diabate — essentially vying for the 15th and final roster spot.

Of the four, Jeffries seems like the most obvious candidate to be waived. He was sent to Charlotte last October as part of the Karl-Anthony Towns trade, and while he appeared in 47 games last season, he wasn’t a major contributor. The five-year veteran is on a fully non-guaranteed contract, so the Hornets won’t incur a cap hit if they release him.

Despite earning $9.42MM in 2025/26, Connaughton also seems pretty likely to be cut. Perhaps I’m wrong and Charlotte will keep his expiring contract to use for salary-matching purposes in a future trade, but he has negative value on that deal after his career was derailed by injuries the past few years. When they sent Vasilije Micic to the Bucks for Connaughton in July, the Hornets acquired two second-round picks in the deal — it seems safe to assume they made the trade for the draft assets, not for Connaughton himself.

That leaves Smith and Diabate. Smith is just two years removed from being selected in the first round of the 2023 draft, but he hasn’t taken a major step forward since entering the NBA, having made exactly 39.1% of his field goal attempts in both of his professional seasons. He played a more significant role last season, but the Hornets were outscored by 14.3 points per 100 possessions when he was on the court, compared to 6.3 points per 100 possessions when he wasn’t playing.

Smith also has a backcourt logjam working against him, while Diabate should benefit from the fact that the Hornets don’t have many viable options in the middle — Plumlee and Kalkbrenner are the only other centers on the roster, so Diabate could actually play rotation minutes this fall, as he did last season, whereas the path to regular playing time for Smith would be more crowded with Miller and Mann back from injuries and Dinwiddie and Sexton now in the mix as well.

It’s worth reiterating that Smith’s salary for 2025/26 is guaranteed, but neither he nor Diabate is owed any guaranteed money beyond the coming season and Charlotte is operating way below the luxury tax line this season. In other words, eating some guaranteed money shouldn’t really affect the team’s flexibility.

Still, even if Jeffries, Connaughton, and Smith look like the most logical odd men out, it’s possible this situation won’t end up being quite that straightforward, so it’ll be worth keeping an eye on this fall.

Luke Adams contributed to this story.

Community Shootaround: Breakout Candidates

September 7th, 2025 at 10:27pm CST by Rory Maher

In an article for HoopsHype, Mike Shearer lists seven players who could be primed for breakout seasons in 2025/26. Here’s his full list:

Shaedon Sharpe (Trail Blazers)
Bennedict Mathurin (Pacers)
Andrew Nembhard (Pacers)
Sam Hauser (Celtics)
Brandon Miller (Hornets)
Jake LaRavia (Lakers)
Terrence Shannon Jr. (Timberwolves)

Shearer acknowledges that Sharpe’s inclusion is a little unconventional, as the 22-year-old averaged a career-best 18.5 points per game in ’24/25. But the Canadian wing is entering the final year of his rookie scale contract and is eligible for an extension until October 20, so he certainly has financial reasons to be motivated for a big season.

Mathurin, who is also eligible for a rookie scale extension, should have a big role for Indiana with Tyrese Haliburton out for the year. Ditto for Nembhard, one of the league’s more unheralded role players who has a chance to show he can be more than that this season.

Boston revamped its roster this offseason for financial and roster-building reasons. There were rumblings that Hauser might be on the trade block, but he’s still a Celtic, and Shearer believes the former Virginia star should have plenty of opportunities to shine in ’25/26.

Shearer also describes why he thinks Miller (second season cut short due to wrist surgery), LaRavia (essentially replacing Dorian Finney-Smith) and Shannon (a Nickeil Alexander-Walker replacement?) could take leaps forward.

We want to know what you think. Do you agree with the players on Shearer’s list? If not, why? Which other players could be primed for breakout seasons? Head to the comment section to weigh in.

Hornets Rookies Optimistic About Future, 2025/26 Season

September 6th, 2025 at 10:49am CST by Rory Maher

Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer recently interviewed the Hornets‘ four 2025 draft picks — Kon Knueppel (No. 4), Liam McNeeley (No. 29), Sion James (No. 33) and Ryan Kalkbrenner (No. 34) — to see how they’re adjusting to the city and preparing for their rookie seasons, among other topics.

The Hornets were the only team to go undefeated at the Las Vegas Summer League, finishing 6-0 en route to the championship, with Knueppel named the finale’s MVP. The former Duke wing says he’s happy fans are excited about the Summer League showing, but the team is striving for more.

“I think it’s cool,” Knueppel told Boone. “We want to carry that momentum over a little bit. We’ve been having a good fall so far, playing a bunch with the guys. So, it’s been good so far and hopefully we can carry that momentum toward the season.”

Knueppel is also looking forward to playing for head coach Charles Lee, according to Boone.

“He’s a good person first,” Knueppel said. “It’s real easy to gravitate toward someone who is a good guy. And to see the way he operates with other people, everyone in the organization. And his family, too, he loves being around his family, so that’s just someone you want to play hard for. He takes the Xs and O’s really seriously. So, yeah, I’m really excited.”

Here are a few more highlights from Boone’s interviews:

McNeeley on fan enthusiasm for the 2025/26 season:

“Yeah, Charlotte’s like a big sports city, a big sports town. I think it’s cool to give the fans something to hope for, something to root for. It’s really cool to be part of something that’s building and is going to be at a high level in a couple of years.”

Kalkbrenner on what has stood out most about the team:

“Obviously, I’ve never been in the NBA before, but I think this year’s group is really, really committed to changing the culture, and trying to win and bring a winning culture here. It seems like we all want the same thing. We’re not just here to be here, have a job or whatever. We are all trying to win. So, I’ve been really impressed with that and it makes me really excited to get out there with them.”

James on which part of his game he wants to improve most:

“It will really happen once the games start coming. It’s probably too soon to say now. I want to improve everything in my game is the cop out answer I guess, but in reality I know I’m just going to have to figure out what it means to be in the NBA. And doing that, there will be some ups and downs, but I’m OK with that.”