Predicting the Future of Charlotte's Free Agents

Who will stay? Who will go? We project whether or not these four players will be back with the Hornets next season.

Apr 1, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges (0) / Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

Free agency doesn't begin until June 30th but it's never too early to predict what the Hornets will do. We'll do another prediction after the draft but for now, this is how I see the Hornets handling their own free agents.

Miles Bridges

Bridges becomes an unrestricted free agent this offseason and after betting on himself once again, he should cash in with a fairly lucrative multi-year deal. Other teams around the league will have interest, but my sense is this is really up to Jeff Peterson and Charles Lee. Bridges wants to remain in Charlotte, a place he's grown to love and where feels at home. He told me following the trade deadline that he wants to be a part of building this organization up and retire a Hornet. I don't have a good read yet on what Charlotte wants to do, but I lean toward Bridges staying put.

JT Thor

The Hornets have a team option on Thor's contract and although it's entirely possible they pick it up, I feel like his time has run its course in Charlotte. He had his opportunities throughout the season, but post-trade deadline he started losing out on minutes to Aleksej Pokuševski. If the Hornets want to be competitive in 2024-25 they can't afford to have too many developmental players on the roster.

Dāvis Bertāns

Bertāns has an early termination option in his contract, but he seemed to be pretty happy with the role he carved out with the Hornets this past season. I don't expect Bertāns to exercise the option, but he could be involved in a trade package this offseason, if needed.

Amari Bailey

The Hornets have just one second round pick in this year's draft, so keeping Bailey at least for another year seems like a smart play and one I expect them to make. In 13 games with the Greensboro Swarm, Bailey averaged 18 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.5 steals per game. He needs to continue to work on his three-point shot to give him a better chance at getting some burn with the big league club.

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