The Charlotte Hornets had a disappointing season in 2021-22. They had a few winning streaks, no more than five games, but they also had a similar number of falls. The Hornets were without a key veteran, Gordon Hayward, for 49 of a potential 82 games, which certainly hurt their playoff chances.
Gordon Hayward will miss the Hornets Qualifying Tournament with a foot injury.
Brutal. pic.twitter.com/5mY8qMqlcz
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) April 10, 2022
Charlotte made it to the 2022 qualifying tournament, despite being sent home by Trae Young’s Atlanta Hawks. Looking ahead to the 2022-23 NBA regular season, the Hornets are hoping to leapfrog and qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
Charlotte needed some kind of summer overhaul to make sure that happened – signing up promising rookies, bringing in impact free agents and maybe pulling the trigger on a few trades. As of this writing, however, general manager Mitch Kupchak and company have only made three moves in the offseason.
They picked Mark Williams (#15) and Bryce McGowens (#40) in the 2022 NBA draft, then re-signed Cody Martin in free agency. Those trades are going well in a vacuum, but the Hornets seem to have skipped most of the major actions they needed.
The biggest of them? Trade by Gordon Hayward.
The Hornets’ off-season move they needed to make
Gordon Hayward Exchange
Hayward has missed way too many games for a $30 million player. He’s also 32, clearly on the decline for a side that are banking on their youth movement now and in the future. The Eastern Conference is deeper than it has been in years, and teams need to field all their best players if they want to make a deep playoff run. For the Hornets, that group should no longer include Hayward.
There’s no doubt that Hayward is a talented player, but he just needs to be on the pitch more to contribute. Even though the Hornets wanted him to remain a focal point, his injury history just shows he’s too frail to play the lion’s share of minutes in the regular season.
On the surface, Hayward looks like a lock to stay with the Hornets. He has the required combination of size, skill and feel to make a difference, but it doesn’t matter if he’s not available for Charlotte when the team needs him most.
That said, Hayward’s performance last season also makes it harder for him to find a deal. Last season, the Hornets forward’s productivity dropped somewhat to just over 15 points per game. However, he attempted fewer shots and played fewer minutes. On the other hand, teams shouldn’t spend top dollar on their third offensive option.
In hindsight, the Hornets should have realized they were taking a gamble when they signed Hayward. He played 52 games in his final season with the Boston Celtics and 44 games in his first season with the Hornets.
Even if a year of rebound is possible, Charlotte can no longer base her hopes on her health. Hayward’s body has collapsed too many times. The Hornets can blame bad luck for that, but by choosing to keep him this coming season, they would have no one to blame but themselves if things didn’t work out again.
Again, Hayward’s value will only go down as he gets older and more injury prone. The Hornets should have traded Hayward, even if it’s just to get rid of the $61 million they owe him over the next two seasons. Paying so much money to an injury-prone small forward as he approaches his 13th season isn’t ideal for any team.
Charlotte should have been more proactive in her search for a Hayward business partner. There had to be a team willing to trade for a reasonably productive veteran, right? Now the Hornets are stuck with him and his impending decline.
They would have had options worth trading over the past few months. Unfortunately, the Hornets just couldn’t get any deals done.
The Detroit Pistons are reportedly interested in acquiring Gordon Hayward from the Charlotte Hornets.
(Going through @espn) pic.twitter.com/xvOJAGlsbm
—ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) June 23, 2022
Simply put, the Hornets’ urgency to win in the present should have trumped a wait-and-see approach to Hayward’s situation. With a possible playoff race on the line, they should have worked aggressively on the phones to find him a business partner, as difficult as that would have been.
