Charlotte Hornets Have Quietly Set Themselves Up to Add Even More Assets

The Charlotte Hornets have done a ton of trading this offseason. It has prompted genuine questions about what exactly the team is doing. After an initial period of moves, the Hornets needed to cut down the roster to get under the limit.

They then proceeded to make a flurry of trades that brought in the same number of players or more than they were offloading. They've since waived some of the acquisitions that seemed like good fits, like Ryan Nembhard.

What are they doing? What plan does Jeff Peterson have?

They're building toward something, but it's not a big blockbuster. They're not adding assets and trade exceptions to trade for Zion Williamson, Kyrie Irving, Trey Murphy, or Anthony Davis.

They are, however, going to continue adding to the stockpile of assets to one day pull off a big move. There's just more to the process than that.

With the addition of the 9.4M TPE, Charlotte now holds SIX trade exceptions in their arsenal, including the five below.

Dillingham makes 3M less and will ultimately be cheaper to waive. https://t.co/lY3WzgrohH pic.twitter.com/49pyhyQaob
— Owen Watterson (@0wenwatterson) September 26, 2026

With all of these moves, the Hornets have added a little more money and generated several trade exceptions. They now have six exceptions to work with, all at varying values. The $40.8 million one is the headline-grabber, but the others are interesting, too.

Because some of them are so small, like the $2.3 million exception, they're not likely to be used to bring in new players. Instead, Charlotte is now well-equipped to jump into three-team (or more) trades and function as a facilitator to absorb salary and acquire more assets.

They're not likely to add first-round picks, but second-rounders are exceptional for making moves around the margins or buffing up an offer for a superstar. For example, the Minnesota Timberwolves spiced up their LaMelo Ball offer with three second-round picks.

Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball (1) looks to pass defended by Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Hornets can do the same to a high degree because they have so many of those picks. When they are interested in adding a superstar, they can ultimately throw in as many second-round picks as it takes to get the deal done.

This is, unfortunately, more of the same from the Hornets. They've punted on contention for now, and they're still stuck in acquisition mode in the never-ending rebuild. Still, these moves seem strange at first since they're trading for and then immediately waiving decent players, but there is a plan in place.

It might take some time to come to fruition, which is frustrating. But there is a reason for all of this seemingly nonsensical activity.

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