Source: David Berding / Getty
The Charlotte Hornets have had one of the quieter starts to the free agency period of any team in the entire NBA. The team has failed to make a new addition to the roster thus far, opting to focus on handling the situations with LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges instead.
The signing of the rookie max deal by LaMelo Ball which can make him up to as much as $260 million over five years was a huge step for the team that needed to get done as soon as possible. Having Ball locked up for the foreseeable future gives the team some much-needed stability and will make it much easier for the team to convince free agents to come and play in Charlotte.
As for Bridges, he accepted the team’s one-year, $7.9 million offer sheet on Sunday, meaning he will return to the court for the Hornets after serving the ten games that remain on the 30-game suspension given out by the league earlier this offseason. He was credited with 20 games served by the league for missing the entirety of the past season. Bridges will have a no-move clause in place for this upcoming season and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year.
Earlier today, NBA front salary cap guru for Spotrac, Keith Smith, joined the Mac & Bone Show to talk about why this was the right move for both sides. “I think in a lot of ways this works out best for him and the Hornets,” Smith said. “He can take this year, show that he’s on a path to redemption and starting to figure out his life and becoming a better person. Then you see what he does basketball-wise and go forward from there. In a lot of ways, this makes sense in lieu of a long-term contract.”
The good news for Hornets fans is that the team does seem to have their first legitimate target outside of their own guys in the form of Boston Celtics restricted free agent forward Grant Williams. The question is, just how aggressive is the team willing to get to pry him out of Boston?
