The Hornets have the ignominious honor of holding the league’s longest active absence from the playoffs, leaving them with many questions to answer heading into the off-season, according to The Charlotte Observer’s Roderick Boone.
In a mailbag column, Boone writes that he expects the team to add more veteran presence to the young core, similar to the addition of Taj Gibson last season. This would help build a winning locker room culture and help the development of head coach Charles Lee, who himself is still learning the ropes of being an NBA veteran coach.
Boone also advises fans not to overreact if 2024 lottery pick Tidjane Salaün spends more time in the G League next year. Rushing his development would be a mistake and would hurt him in the long run. The 6th pick in last year’s draft averaged 5.9 points and 4.7 rebounds in 20 minutes a night for Charlotte, while shooting just 33% from the field and 28% from three, though he was always known to be a project who would take multiple years to be ready for heavy contributions.
As far as roster moves, Boone says the team could use another center or power forward, especially one who can shoot. Meanwhile, Tre Mann appears to be on the road to recovery from a back injury that cut his season short and is entering restricted free agency. If he’s healthy, Boone believes that he might be more likely to sign a qualifying offer and hit the open market next year than to sign a long-term deal.
We have more from the Southeast Division:
- 6’4″ shooting guard V.J. Edgecombe is rumored to be a favorite for the Hornets‘ fourth overall pick in the 2025 draft if he’s still available, writes Boone. Boone points to his strong defensive pedigree as a great fit between LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller in Charles Lee’s system, but warns that he’ll need to improve his ball-handling to become a more well-rounded offensive threat.
- After a strong second half of the season following a mid-year trade to the Heat, Davion Mitchell is expected to receive an $8.7MM qualifying offer from Miami to become a restricted free agent, writes Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. However, Chiang writes that the most likely outcome is that the Heat allow another team to pursue an offer sheet with the 26-year-old defensive-minded guard before deciding how he fits into their future plans. Chiang writes that Mitchell could garner offers that approach the $14MM of the full midlevel exception, and the Heat are only around $4MM from the luxury tax without much hope of putting together a top-tier team for next year. They are also expected to pursue as much cap space in 2026 as possible, making multi-year deals complicated.
- After a career shooting year, Alec Burks is hoping to be back with the Heat next season, writes Chiang. “It was a good year. I learned a lot. Even though I’m in my 14th year, I still learned something. So I’m glad I was here,” Burks said. The soon-to-be 34-year-old started both play-in games for Miami but only played in Game 1 of the team’s first-round matchup with the Cavaliers. Coach Erik Spoelstra praised his ability to stay ready for whatever was asked of him, saying, “There aren’t a lot of vets that really want to accept these kinds of roles. That’s just the reality. And he is not only able to accept it, but he thrives in that role.”
- The Hawks are desperately trying to move up from being an average team, record-wise, writes Keith Smith of Spotrac. The team has decisions to make regarding the free agency of longtime center Clint Capela, who was supplanted this year by Onyeka Okongwu in the starting five, as well as new acquisitions Caris LeVert and Larry Nance Jr., that could decide how the depth of the team looks next season. Smith writes that it would make sense for LeVert and Atlanta to come to terms on a deal in the ballpark of $12MM over two or three years, while the team’s ability to retain Nance rests on what kind of outside offers he gets. Dyson Daniels and Trae Young are both extension-eligible this summer, though Smith believes it could make more sense to extend Daniels than Young, given potential long-term uncertainty with Young. And, of course, none of this is likely to happen before the team replaces recently-fired general manager Landry Fields.