Will the Hornets trade for Domantas Sabonis?
The trade winds are blowing, and the Charlotte Hornets have been at the center of discussion for a potential Sabonis trade.
The Charlotte Hornets are poised to be one of the more interesting teams this NBA offseason. They have two first-round draft picks coming up, a ton of expiring salary, and a plethora of young players to grease the wheels on making a move for any potential trade candidates.
And Tuesday, we started to get some idea that the Hornets will be active in trade discussions when Jake Fischer reported that he thinks the Hornets will have forward Miles Bridges available via trade:
“Miles Bridges is another player that I think is going to be available on the trade market, as he kinda was already in February”
Later in the evening, the Stein Line (with Fischer and Marc Stein) added some additional context:
“Charlotte is expected to make Miles Bridges available in trade talks in conjunction with the upcoming draft, league sources say, after essentially doing so at the February trade deadline.
It has been suggested that Bridges could have a broader trade market now than he did then because he is on an expiring contract for 2026-27 at a salary that has descended to $22.8 million from its $27.2 million peak in 2024-25.”
This, to me, isn’t all that surprising. Last month, I gave Miles Bridges a 50/50 chance of being on the Hornets 2026-27 roster. He’s probably Charlotte’s most valuable expiring contract at $22 million, followed by Josh Green and Grant Williams.
The thing I consistently come back to is how well general manager Jeff Peterson times his trades based on when player value peaks:
He traded for Jusuf Nurkic (and got a first-round pick to take on the deal) when Nurkic had two years left on his contract. Then, when Nurkic had value as an expiring contract the following summer, Peterson traded him to Utah for Collin Sexton and second-round pick compensation. The Hornets then used Sexton’s expiring money to trade for Coby White, only including two second-round picks.
This relates to Miles Bridges as a now-expiring contract. There’s potential to use that salary as filler to bring in a bigger player - or, what I consider to be more likely: bringing in a slightly-overpaid player on a two-year deal along with draft compensation, further increasing the pool of picks at Peterson’s disposal.
Some potential examples:
Maybe the Phoenix Suns want to diversify a bit, sending Charlotte Grayson Allen and pick compensation for Bridges.
Could the Knicks want some long-term cap relief? Maybe sending Josh Hart and draft picks for Bridges makes sense for them.
What about the Pistons? They need a long-term power forward to replace Tobias Harris. Caris LeVert and a minimum salary works financially, but could you convince them to add a future first-round pick?
There’s a lot more scenarios where Bridges makes sense for teams because the his contract is only for a single season.
I’m still sticking to my 50/50 odds, as I really do think the Hornets will value Bridges more than other teams due to other Hornets players consistently speaking about his locker room leadership. I do think Bridges is the player on the Hornets most likely to be dealt, though.
The Bridges news from Jake Fischer and Marc Stein made what came Wednesday much more possible. Sam Amick of the Athletic reported that the Kings and Hornets had discussions about a trade based around Domantas Sabonis:
“Per league sources, Sacramento and Charlotte have had recent talks about Kings big man Domantas Sabonis. While a deal is not imminent and appears unlikely before the June 23 draft, sources say the Hornets have some interest in the 30-year-old, three-time All-Star. The problem for now, it seems, is that the Kings have been hoping to land one of Charlotte’s two first-round picks (they have Nos. 14 and 18) in the deal, and the Hornets have signaled a desire to retain their picks and discuss Sabonis later in the summer. Sabonis has two seasons left on his deal ($45.4 million next season and $48.6 million in 2027-28).”
Mike Scotto of HoopsHype wrote something similar on Wednesday afternoon, though I put significantly less stock into Scotto’s reporting than Amick’s.
I’ll start with this: I think that Sabonis would be a really fun offensive fit with the Hornets, his front-court playmaking and rim pressure would add something that Charlotte doesn’t already have. I think the shooting that Charlotte provides between LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, Kon Knueppel, and Coby White would accentuate Sabonis’ strengths as a player, though I’d be concerned about pairing him with a center that doesn’t already provide 3-point shooting at a high level between either Moussa Diabate or Ryan Kalkbrenner.
To me, I think a Sabonis trade would signal a much more broad front court restructuring. It certainly wouldn’t end with just a Sabonis trade (and nothing else accompanying it).
In terms of an actual deal, I don’t hate the idea of it depending on the cost. Sabonis has two years left on his contract at an average annual value of about $47M. Even if he’s not the most valuable player on that contract currently, he almost certainly would carry neutral value as an expiring contract just a year from now.
I could see a deal in which the Hornets send expiring money and second-round draft capital to the Kings for Sabonis, but I’m doubtful Charlotte includes anything more than that from a pick compensation standpoint.
If they do include a first-round pick, it will probably be the 2029 First-Rounder which is the least favorable of UTA/MIN/CLE - making it likely to end up in the bottom 10 picks of the first round. It would be shocking to me if Charlotte included either the 14th or 18th pick, or even one of Charlotte’s own future picks.
If it’s not that 2029 first-rounder, I think Miami’s 2027 first-round pick (lottery protected) would be the most likely asset to be included.
In my personal view, when there’s a variety of sources leaking congruent information, I’ve always processed it as, “something definitely could happen here.”
That’s not to say a trade is imminent, per se, but thinking back to when Terry Rozier and PJ Washington were traded away from Charlotte, there was a lot of build up to each trade in the news cycle prior, specifically regarding the teams that traded for each player.