Charlotte Hornets Post-Trade Deadline Projected Depth Chart

What can Hornets fans expect the rotation to look like for the rest of the season?

The long needed winds of change have finally come for the Charlotte Hornets. After a flurry of trades Charlotte have now turned over up a third of their roster. To recap:

Out: Gordon Hayward, PJ Washington , Kyle Lowry (likely buyout)

In: Grant Williams, Vasilije Micic, Tre Mann, Seth Curry, David Bertans

BREAKING | PJ Washington Traded To Dallas

With the Hornets bringing five in compared to sending just three players out, two players will need to be waived. For the purpose of this exercise I've projected the cuts to be James Bouknight and Frank Ntilikina, but this is unconfirmed.

Point Guard	LaMelo Ball	Vasilije Micic	Ish Smith	Amari Bailey (TW)
Shooting Guard	Cody Martin	Nick Smith Jr	Seth Curry	Tre Mann
Small Forward	Brandon Miller	Bryce McGowens	Leaky Black (TW)
Power Forward	Miles Bridges	Grant Williams	JT Thor
Center	Mark Williams	Nick Richards	Davis Bertans	Nathan Mensah (TW)

The goal of Charlotte's trade deadline moves were collecting draft picks. This means most of the incoming players don't have a clear "fit" in the Hornets future. The current Hornets depth chart looks heavily unbalanced with too many backcourt players, but that will only be temporary issue for the rest of the 2023-24 season.

I'm torn on if the Hornets will force feed minutes to young players like Mann and Nick Smith Jr, or choose the experienced veteran in Seth Curry. If Steve Clifford is still head coach, I would expect the latter.

In the backcourt it makes sense to let Micic run the second unit to see if he could fulfill the role for next season and beyond or if he will be traded again this off-season. 

One other option is Charlotte could go "big" by playing Miller at SG, Bridges at SF and Grant Williams at PF. However, with such a glut of two guards in Martin/Smith Jr/Mann, that would create a log-jam elsewhere on the roster.