Charlotte Hornets: 5 roster moves they must make this offseason

1. Charlotte Hornets offseason needs: Trade Nicolas Batum

This may be one of the most difficult moves for any team to make this offseason. Nicolas Batum has a $27 million player option that he is almost guaranteed to take up. To put it simply, Batum will not get a fraction of this money if he tries his luck on the open market.

Batum’s production has dropped off significantly since he signed his five-year deal worth $120 million. Last season his averages were terrible. He averaged 9.3 points per game which was his worst scoring output since his rookie year.

In the recently concluded season, Batum averaged just 3.6 points per game. This was his lowest output since entering the NBA. He only played a total of 22 games, starting just three and averaging 23.0 minutes per outing. This is certainly not good enough at the price tag.

What is worse than that for the franchise is that it was not injury which kept Batum out of the lineup. He simply fell out of the rotation, recording 25 games where he did not play -coaches decision.

When Batum was on the court he appeared totally out of sync with the rest of the players. The teams highest paid player became the highest paid cheerleader. If the Hornets do not trade Batum, this will be the case again next season.