Charlotte Hornets: A Lose-Lose Situation No Matter What

When Michael Jordan was a player in the NBA, he was widely considered by many to be the greatest player of all time. However, as his playing career wound down and he progressed into a front office role, we began to see a side of Jordan we’ve never seen before: we started to see Jordan lose.

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Since taking over as part owner of the Charlotte Hornets, Jordan’s Hornets/Bobcats have only had two seasons with a win percentage better than .500. His exploits as a player are unprecedented, but he hasn’t had the same success as part of the front office.

And with the way things are looking, Jordan’s time as an owner might just get tougher.

The Hornets made several moves this offseason, trading away Noah Vonleh for Nicolas Batum and giving up Lance Stephenson for Spencer Hawes. The moves seemed to indicate that the Hornets were going all-in for next season, desperate to make the playoffs after missing out last season.

For all intents and purposes, making the playoffs your goal is a highly encouraging one. Doubly so for the Hornets’ fanbase, who have suffered much. However, the Hornets’ situation is a unique one in that making the playoffs might end up hurting the franchise more in the long run rather than benefiting them.

This is largely due in part to their free agents next season. Al Jefferson and Nicolas Batum will be unrestricted free agents while Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Jeremy Lamb will enter restricted free agency is a contract extension isn’t negotiated before the October 31 deadline.

Jefferson is now entering his 30s while Batum is 26 years old. With the cap rising so significantly, both players will want a max contract in free agency, and with the Hornets owning their Bird Rights, they will be able to offer them an extra year on their contracts and more money. The question then becomes whether the Hornets should even offer them so much money. Jefferson will be 35 by the end of the max five-year contract (and he will presumably want to sign a long-term deal for the most amount of money), and Batum hasn’t been nearly consistent enough to justify such a big money commitment.

The Hornets’ chances of re-signing both players hinge heavily on whether they make the playoffs. Both players are championship caliber players (but not as number one options) and will seek their best chance of winning a ring in free agency. If the Hornets miss out on a playoff spot again, you can be sure that it will be an uphill battle to re-sign both players.

The problem here is that their current core of Kemba Walker, Kidd-Gilchrist, Batum, and Jefferson isn’t good enough to be a contender in the Eastern Conference. Jefferson and Batum are already in their prime, which further limits the Hornets’ potential to grow. Unless new draftee Frank Kaminsky ends up showing superstar talent, the Hornets seem to be near their ceiling as a team. And unfortunately, that ceiling isn’t high enough to be a top dog in the East, let alone make it to the Finals.

And if the Hornets keep that core together for the next 3-4 years, they most likely end up becoming the next iteration of the late-2000s Milwaukee Bucks – perpetual eighth seed contenders, only to fall at the first hurdle.

On the flip side, if the Hornets fail to make the playoffs and both unrestricted free agents (Jefferson and Batum) choose to take their talents elsewhere, the Hornets head back to square one. Suddenly, Walker and MKG become the franchise’s best players, and fans will be hoping that Kaminsky and Lamb develop into All-Stars. Perhaps the franchise strikes gold with their 2016 lottery pick – but with their draft history, that seems unlikely.

Reloading and rebuilding may seem like the best outcome for franchises mired in mediocrity, but for Charlotte, it is an all-too-familiar process. The Hornets have arguably been rebuilding for the past four seasons, with only one playoff appearance since then to show for their progress. The other issue here is that both Walker and (most likely) Kidd-Gilchrist are already on big-money salaries, which make it all the more difficult to endorse tanking.

For Jordan and the Hornets, next season is turning out to be a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation.

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