The Hornets should try to swing a big trade this summer

The Charlotte Hornets were not blessed by the ping pong balls on Wednesday night, so their pick stayed pat at 12. With Kemba Walker’s impending free agency and the team spinning its wheels for three years running, the team needs to shake things up. There isn’t room to make a free agent signing, so trades are the only clear avenue to quickly improve the team.

This is the team’s cap situation going into the summer (not accounting for cap holds; see bottom of post for color codes):

If the Hornets intend to bring back any of Jeremy Lamb, Frank Kaminsky, or Kemba Walker, their cap holds will push the team over the cap before they can even entertain the idea of signing someone.