Will the Charlotte Hornets be buyers or sellers at next season’s trade deadline?

The expectation is that the Charlotte Hornets The St. Louis Cardinals will be competing for a playoff spot in 2024-25. It’s unlikely they’ll make it to the top six and avoid the play-in tournament, but a finish between seventh and 10th in the Eastern Conference seems achievable.

If the Hornets are somewhere lower in the play-in standings, say ninth or 10th, but could easily fall, that will certainly impact Jeff Peterson’s decision-making at the trade deadline, as it would in any situation.

As I said before, I don’t think the Hornets have much motivation to make a playoff run. If they’re not selected in the top 14 of the 2025 draft, their first-round pick will be sent to the San Antonio Spurs. If they’re selected in the lottery, they’ll send a couple of second-round picks to San Antonio.

Even in a world where the Hornets stay healthy and perhaps surprise everyone with their full-strength play, it doesn’t make much sense to seek a big-money addition at the trade deadline. Mitch Kupchak made a few minor trades at the trade deadline when he was in charge of the Hornets that improved the team, but without taking on a lot of salary or parting with any major assets. Think Montrezl Harrell, for example.

For this week’s poll, we asked X-fans what they predicted the Hornets would do at the trade deadline. Will they be buyers? Sellers? Or a bit of both?

38.9% of voters said they were in favor of sellers, 35.2% in favor of buyers and 25.9% in favor of buyers and sellers.

Last season, the Hornets did a bit of both. They brought in veterans Gordon Hayward, PJ Washington and Terry Rozier, but brought in interesting players like Seth Curry, Grant Williams, Tre Mann, Vasilije Micic and more.

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