Could The Hornets Target Kyle Kuzma? (Mock Trade)

Hornets Receive:

Kyle Kuzma (4 yrs/$95M) (Sign and Trade)

Pick 8 (via Washington)

Wizards Receive:

Cody Martin

Kai Jones

James Bouknight

27th Pick (via Denver)

2026 1st Round Pick (via Charlotte) (Top 18 Protected)

39th Pick (via Utah)

2024 2nd Round Pick (via Boston)

For the Hornets, we go into win-now mode. We would potentially have a Core lineup of:

PG: Lamelo Ball, Dennis Smith Jr?

SG: Scoot Henderson, Bryce McGowens, Terry Rozier? SF: Miles Bridges, Kelly Oubre? PF: Kyle Kuzma, Taylor Hendricks?, P.J. Washington? C: Mark Williams, Nick Richards

Not only do we add high-quality 2-way talent in Kuzma, but we acquire a valuable first that could be used to draft someone such as Taylor Hendricks. We would quickly shoot up the Pre-season mocks, and I truly believe this squad can deliver us our first playoff series win in over 20 years. The only potential downside to this deal is the lack of value P.J. Washington would provide for us, given he could be making up to 20M a year. Potentially we could sign and trade him away for a better PG backup than Dennis Smith Jr (don't get mad at me, I just look at Dennis as a high-quality third-stringer or a solid backup if injuries occur).

For the Wizards, they have just fired their GM after years of being the league's most directionless franchise. Rumbles of a rebuild have reverberated through the NBA community, and this trade helps them do just that. It gives them a solid amount of pick equity to start, and high-ceiling youth to start the reset. Clearing out Kuzma also gives last year's 10th overall pick Johnny Davis more room on the teams offense to develop into (potentially) a star. I could also see them making a similar deal for expiring bigman Kristaps Porzingis elsewhere.