Charlotte Hornets' narrow path to financial flexibility: Navigating 2025-26 cap space challenges

Jeff Peterson has a narrow path to find roster upgrades.

Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images

A familiar feeling for Charlotte Hornets fans has sunken in following a pair of disastrous performances that represent the worst two-game stretch in NBA history: apathy.

the #hornets just tied a 58 year old nba record by being outscored by 95 points in consecutive games

them and the 1966-67 detroit pistons pic.twitter.com/L4F0ohw4Ja

— Fastbreak Breakfast (@fastbreakbreak) February 25, 2025

The team's lack of flexibility as we approach the summer of 2025 makes it easy to double down on that feeling. As it stands, the Hornets are projected to operate as an over the cap team this offseason. According to Spotrac, Charlotte projects to be $17,948,850 over the league's salary cap based on the roster's current construction and future cap holds.

Creating financial flexibility in Charlotte

Moving on from Okogie and Jeffries

Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

There is a path to creating some cap space, but it's a slim one. Josh Okogie and DaQuan Jeffries' non-guaranteed salaries combine to make up $10,493,776 of Charlotte's financial allocations for next season. If they decide to move on from both players, they would cut into the ~$18 million salary cap deficit they're slotted to face.

However, both Okogie and Jeffries have proven themselves as somewhat valuable contributors on the wing - are the Hornets in the business of letting young, cheap, intriguing players out of the door right now? Recent results say otherwise.

Letting Tre Mann walk in free agency

Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Jeff Peterson and company are in an unenviable position when it comes to parsing Tre Mann's value.

The skilled bucket-getting guard was on pace for a career-defining season and subsequent contract extension before a back injury derailed his 2024-25 campaign. Now, Mann is on the verge of free agency with a massive question mark shrouding his future.

Is his back injury bad enough for Charlotte to let him walk? If they do re-sign Mann, will they get him at a discount? What is a reasonable contract offer for a supremely talented player with a glaring red flag on his health profile?

As it stands, Mann's cap hold is $14,725,119. I'd expect Charlotte to extend the $6,964,981 qualifying offer to Mann (numbers via Spotrac) and let him test the waters in restricted free agency. If no other team is willing to take a swing on Mann's health, there's a world in which he signs that $6.9 million one-year contract, recoups his value by playing well in 2025-26, and hits unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2026.

The lack of available cap space around the league makes that a legitimate scenario. Paying Mann ~$8 million less than his cap hold would allow Charlotte some valuable flexibility on the margins of their 2025-26 cap sheet. If he does sign an offer sheet elsewhere, Charlotte fails to match and lets Mann walk, they will free up the $14,725,119 of his cap hold.

Combining Mann accepting the team's $6,694,981 qualifying offer and potential cuts of Okogie and Jeffires would only create a whopping $305,064 in cap space. The only way for the Hornets to create enough money to make a real splash in free agency is to move on from one of their three most expensive pieces.

Trading a big-money player

Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

This is the only true path to creating meaningful cap space. A trio of Hornets players are slated to make greater than $19 million in 2025-26: LaMelo Ball (~$38 million), Miles Bridges ($25 million), and Jusuf Nurkic (~$19 million). It would be far from a shock to see any of these three players traded this summer.

Ball is entering the prime of his career and has nothing to show for his otherworldly talent other than a singular All-Star appearance and a couple of Play-In Tournament berths. At what point does he get frustrated with the direction of things in the Queen City?

Miles Bridges is a valuable veteran presence on the floor, but he's in a similar boat as Ball. Bridges has yet to experience winning basketball in Charlotte.

Those two and Nurkic's expiring deal are three movable chess pieces that would allow the Hornets some financial freedom to make moves elsewhere in this slow burn of a rebuild.

However, finding a deal for Bridges or Nurkic is next to impossible. Nobody in the league outside of Brooklyn has meaningful cap space to absorb a large contract, meaning Charlotte would likely need to add an asset or two in a deal to move one from one of their big-money players. The team is clearly in asset accumulation mode: that isn't happening.

Jeff Peterson has proven to be a cut-throat, bold decision-maker in his brief stint as the voice of the Charlotte Hornets' front office. He'll need to continue to be daring in his decisions this summer because one thing is clear: things need to be fixed in Charlotte. The city deserves a winning basketball team and the product on the floor right now isn't cutting it.

- MORE STORIES FROM HORNETS ON SI -

Back-to-back horrendous nights from LaMelo Ball should teach the Hornets one thing

The Charlotte Hornets have hit rock bottom

What a potential trade package for LaMelo Ball could look like

The Hornets clearly need a roster makeover this offseason