Charlotte Hornets: Impact of the Dwight Howard trade

What are the salary cap and draft implications for the Charlotte Hornets after trading away Dwight Howard to the Brooklyn Nets?

Earlier this morning, news broke from ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski that the Charlotte Hornets were trading away center Dwight Howard to the Brooklyn Nets.

This trade comes right before the 2018 NBA Draft on Thursday, and while the Hornets save some cash in the short-term (over $7 million this season) to help them avoid going over the luxury tax threshold, this benefits the Nets more than anyone.

Howard’s deal expires after next season and clears much of their cap for the 2019 offseason. This trade also comes exactly one year from when the Hornets traded for Howard last year.

Dwight Howard had a resurgence of sorts this past season, averaging 16.6 points and 12.5 rebounds per game, just slightly below his career averages, but better than he had been in his time with the Atlanta Hawks in 2016-17. Howard also shot 55.5 percent from the field, which was the third-lowest mark of his career, and struggled mightily from the post.

Dwight Howard’s advanced metrics weren’t exactly the best of his career either, but he was still a top producer for the Hornets. His 20.5 Player Efficiency Rating was one of the lower marks of his career, but was just behind Kemba Walker‘s 20.6 PER. Howard only put up 6.8 win shares this season, but that was still the second-best total for the Hornets.

This trade puts the Hornets’ frontcourt rotation in question as Timofey Mozgov presents a downgrade analytically. He’s never scored more than 10 points a game outside of the 46 games he played in Cleveland in 2014-15. Mozgov set his career high 7.8 rebounds per game during his last half-season with the Denver Nuggets before being traded to Cleveland.

Mozgov has only had an above-average PER in two different seasons, including his 16.7 mark with the Denver Nuggets in 2013-14. Even Dwight Howard’s lowest career PER is better than Mozgov’s highest.

Marvin Williams will likely start at power forward to begin the season, and Howard being traded could be a big boost for younger players.

Cody Zeller could make an impact again if he can come back healthy from knee surgeries this past season. Frank Kaminsky benefited from playing alongside Howard at times with Zeller out, so he could reap even more playing time and possible starts now that Howard is gone. The wildcard in the mix is Willy Hernangomez, a center the Hornets traded for in February. In limited minutes he averaged 6.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.

While the Charlotte Hornets have been set up to possibly draft a wing or guard at pick No. 11, this could set them up to draft more frontcourt help as well, especially if Mitch Kupchak doesn’t like what he currently has.

Next: 2018 NBA Mock Draft - Final edition

The Charlotte Hornets do have the 11th and 55th overall picks of the NBA Draft on Thursday and just added the 45th overall pick from the Nets, but this could spell just the beginning of moves by the new GM. The Hornets had some ugly contracts on their books before this trade and this doesn’t help matters for a team that has yet to decide what to do with Kemba Walker and his impending free agency next offseason.