Rumor: Hornets forward Gordon Hayward wants change of scenery

[wdleehi]

Lakers trade of Westbrook looking a lot more likely with this report. 

Something like Westbrook, Reaves for Hayward, Oubre

That seems like something both teams would try.

Charlotte says no.   How does Westbrook help them?   An unhappy Hayward helps this team more then a need the ball in their hand Westbrook. 



I could see a team like Philly offering Harris.  (I also agree with Utah)

Yeah I know Hayward's always hurt but idk why Charlotte is motivated to do this. If anything, it'd also probably affect their young guys since Westbrook would absolutely continue to be a diva in Charlotte and stunt their growth. It'd be a real sign Charlotte is going nowhere adding him.

Get out of the last year of Hayward's contract.  Get a star for tickets for a year.  Get a decent young player on a minimum contract for a couple of years.

They already have the star to sell tickets.   They need to win games to sell more.   This doesn't help. 

[Moranis]

And the Westbrook to Charlotte rumors have been circulating for the last week or so.

Stein from a week or so ago  https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/russell-westbrook-trade-rumors-hornets-a-team-to-watch-in-potential-deal-for-lakers-guard-per-report/

All-Star guard LaMelo Ball is firmly ensconced as the Hornets' face of the franchise and on-the-ball star, but one scenario making the rounds is a belief that the Hornets could emerge with Westbrook interest in the name of creating some financial flexibility.

Gordon Hayward has two seasons left on a four-year, $120 million contract and has appeared in only 49 of Charlotte's 79 games this season. Terry Rozier has performed well this season, with an above-average PER of 17.36, but next season is Year 1 of a four-year, $97 million extension.

With the Hornets facing the onrushing expense of signing [Miles] Bridges to a lucrative contract extension this offseason, followed by the eventual prospect of a max extension for Ball, combining one of their long-term deals with the final season on Kelly Oubre Jr.'s two-year, $24.5 million pact, as an example, could function as a workable trade framework. Any team trading for Westbrook has to send out roughly $38 million in salary.

While Hornets owner Michael Jordan has long ranked as a Westbrook admirer, it's not yet clear if that would give such a trade concept more life. The scenario has nonetheless been mentioned by multiple rival teams in recent weeks and, if nothing else, illustrates the likelihood that the Lakers would largely be limited to trades in which they're the team taking on more long-term money if they want to move off Westbrook immediately.

A lot of other places have run with the Stein report and added their own sources to the mix.  Westbrook to Charlotte has some legs to it and the report of Hayward being unhappy and wanting add makes it a lot more likely in my mind.

[Moranis]

Lakers trade of Westbrook looking a lot more likely with this report. 

Something like Westbrook, Reaves for Hayward, Oubre

That seems like something both teams would try.

Charlotte says no.   How does Westbrook help them?   An unhappy Hayward helps this team more then a need the ball in their hand Westbrook. 



I could see a team like Philly offering Harris.  (I also agree with Utah)

Yeah I know Hayward's always hurt but idk why Charlotte is motivated to do this. If anything, it'd also probably affect their young guys since Westbrook would absolutely continue to be a diva in Charlotte and stunt their growth. It'd be a real sign Charlotte is going nowhere adding him.

Get out of the last year of Hayward's contract.  Get a star for tickets for a year.  Get a decent young player on a minimum contract for a couple of years.

They already have the star to sell tickets.   They need to win games to sell more.   This doesn't help.

Yes but Hayward is a terrible contract and they need some future cap room for Bridges and eventually Ball.  Given his injury history and the extra year at 31.5 million, Hayward might actually be a worse contract than Westbrook.

[Celtics2021]

Lakers trade of Westbrook looking a lot more likely with this report. 

Something like Westbrook, Reaves for Hayward, Oubre

That seems like something both teams would try.

Charlotte says no.   How does Westbrook help them?   An unhappy Hayward helps this team more then a need the ball in their hand Westbrook. 



I could see a team like Philly offering Harris.  (I also agree with Utah)

Yeah I know Hayward's always hurt but idk why Charlotte is motivated to do this. If anything, it'd also probably affect their young guys since Westbrook would absolutely continue to be a diva in Charlotte and stunt their growth. It'd be a real sign Charlotte is going nowhere adding him.

Get out of the last year of Hayward's contract.  Get a star for tickets for a year.  Get a decent young player on a minimum contract for a couple of years.

They already have the star to sell tickets.   They need to win games to sell more.   This doesn't help.

Yes but Hayward is a terrible contract and they need some future cap room for Bridges and eventually Ball.  Given his injury history and the extra year at 31.5 million, Hayward might actually be a worse contract than Westbrook.

They have sufficient space to resign Bridges and Martin this off-season, so they don’t need to make a move this year.  Next year could be trickier depending what they want to do with Washington, but Hayward as an expiring is much easier to deal with than Hayward with two-years left.  In short, I don’t expect them to move Hayward unless they get players they like more.  There is no need from a cap/tax perspective to do anything immediately.

[bricone29]

What does this guy NOT want?
He wants big money AND be a focal part of the offense but can't stay healthy.

[BringToughnessBack]

Danny’s red lines with not paying certain players too much looks really like strong business judgement for sure. That huge Horford deal at the time(yes we got it back ) and not paying Hayward insane dollars too. Oh, he also dumped aging legends to the Nets as well and we saw how that has turned out.

Utah is in good hands.

[Celtics2021]

Danny’s red lines with not paying certain players too much looks really like strong business judgement for sure. That huge Horford deal at the time(yes we got it back ) and not paying Hayward insane dollars too. Oh, he also dumped aging legends to the Nets as well and we saw how that has turned out.

Utah is in good hands.

He also gave Kemba a huge deal, so he had his misses.

[Moranis]

Lakers trade of Westbrook looking a lot more likely with this report. 

Something like Westbrook, Reaves for Hayward, Oubre

That seems like something both teams would try.

Charlotte says no.   How does Westbrook help them?   An unhappy Hayward helps this team more then a need the ball in their hand Westbrook. 



I could see a team like Philly offering Harris.  (I also agree with Utah)

Yeah I know Hayward's always hurt but idk why Charlotte is motivated to do this. If anything, it'd also probably affect their young guys since Westbrook would absolutely continue to be a diva in Charlotte and stunt their growth. It'd be a real sign Charlotte is going nowhere adding him.

Get out of the last year of Hayward's contract.  Get a star for tickets for a year.  Get a decent young player on a minimum contract for a couple of years.

They already have the star to sell tickets.   They need to win games to sell more.   This doesn't help.

Yes but Hayward is a terrible contract and they need some future cap room for Bridges and eventually Ball.  Given his injury history and the extra year at 31.5 million, Hayward might actually be a worse contract than Westbrook.

They have sufficient space to resign Bridges and Martin this off-season, so they don’t need to make a move this year.  Next year could be trickier depending what they want to do with Washington, but Hayward as an expiring is much easier to deal with than Hayward with two-years left.  In short, I don’t expect them to move Hayward unless they get players they like more.  There is no need from a cap/tax perspective to do anything immediately.

Dealing him as an expiring would require salary back though.  If they want to clear him a year early, they need to move him this summer for expiring contracts and no one would want him except in a Westbrook style deal.

[ETNCeltics]

Lakers trade of Westbrook looking a lot more likely with this report. 

Something like Westbrook, Reaves for Hayward, Oubre

That seems like something both teams would try.

Charlotte says no.   How does Westbrook help them?   An unhappy Hayward helps this team more then a need the ball in their hand Westbrook. 



I could see a team like Philly offering Harris.  (I also agree with Utah)

Yeah I know Hayward's always hurt but idk why Charlotte is motivated to do this. If anything, it'd also probably affect their young guys since Westbrook would absolutely continue to be a diva in Charlotte and stunt their growth. It'd be a real sign Charlotte is going nowhere adding him.

Get out of the last year of Hayward's contract.  Get a star for tickets for a year.  Get a decent young player on a minimum contract for a couple of years.

They're already selling a lot of tickets with 2 young exciting players. Ball is going to be a superstar.

Bringing Westbrook into that situation would be poisonous.

[Phantom255x]

Lakers trade of Westbrook looking a lot more likely with this report. 

Something like Westbrook, Reaves for Hayward, Oubre

That seems like something both teams would try.

Charlotte says no.   How does Westbrook help them?   An unhappy Hayward helps this team more then a need the ball in their hand Westbrook. 



I could see a team like Philly offering Harris.  (I also agree with Utah)

Yeah I know Hayward's always hurt but idk why Charlotte is motivated to do this. If anything, it'd also probably affect their young guys since Westbrook would absolutely continue to be a diva in Charlotte and stunt their growth. It'd be a real sign Charlotte is going nowhere adding him.

Get out of the last year of Hayward's contract.  Get a star for tickets for a year.  Get a decent young player on a minimum contract for a couple of years.

I guess, but I also question how that fit would even work. Between Westbrook and Ball who is making the sacrifice? We literally just saw how it turned out with the Lakers when certain guys (including Westbrook) needed to make sacrifices.

I think a Hornets-Lakers trade is definitely possible. Lakers are desperate to dump Westbrook and maybe the Hornets want to add another star. But I have to imagine it's not a "Plan A" for Charlotte either.

[jambr380]

Haliburton's value far exceeds anything Hayward and picks could bring back. We couldn't even dream of getting Hali for in-his-prime, newly signed, DPOY Marcus Smart. Hield would be nice salary filler and could probably get conversations started, since - as Roy stated - this would be more about CHA getting out of his contract than getting actual value for him. Heck, the article references Westbrook - I think that's all you need to know about Hayward's value right now.

As a side note, it's kind-of annoying that both Hayward and Horford were so quick to leave Boston, when it was obviously a great situation for both of them (especially Horford). We've had to give up so many picks (1st for Al, five 2nds and counting for the continuation of the Hayward TPEs) and lost Rozier in the process. I guess we now have Derek White, but that cost an additional 1st, a swap, and Romeo.

I think ozgod was saying that Hayward would be playing alongside Haliburton

Guess I look like a moron lol. I somehow misinterpreted his post as saying that CHA could trade Hayward for Hali/Hield. Sorry for the misunderstanding!

[radiohead]

Charlotte is probably better off keeping Hayward and seeing how a healthy Gordon can complement Ball, Rozier, and Bridges. It’ll probably be hard to trade him til his contract is expiring. Better to ride him out than get Westbrook who will most certainly stunt the growth of Lamelo.

[LilRip]

Charlotte is probably better off keeping Hayward and seeing how a healthy Gordon can complement Ball, Rozier, and Bridges. It’ll probably be hard to trade him til his contract is expiring. Better to ride him out than get Westbrook who will most certainly stunt the growth of Lamelo.

3-guard lineup: Lamelo, Russ, Rozier

 

[slamtheking]

Charlotte is probably better off keeping Hayward and seeing how a healthy Gordon can complement Ball, Rozier, and Bridges. It’ll probably be hard to trade him til his contract is expiring. Better to ride him out than get Westbrook who will most certainly stunt the growth of Lamelo.

If I'm Charlotte, this is what I would be thinking.  Treat Hayward as sunk money next year and hope he's healthy enough to play a meaningful amount of games to build a solid playoff team.  move next offseason if possible or just eat the deal for another season

[Celtics2021]

Lakers trade of Westbrook looking a lot more likely with this report. 

Something like Westbrook, Reaves for Hayward, Oubre

That seems like something both teams would try.

Charlotte says no.   How does Westbrook help them?   An unhappy Hayward helps this team more then a need the ball in their hand Westbrook. 



I could see a team like Philly offering Harris.  (I also agree with Utah)

Yeah I know Hayward's always hurt but idk why Charlotte is motivated to do this. If anything, it'd also probably affect their young guys since Westbrook would absolutely continue to be a diva in Charlotte and stunt their growth. It'd be a real sign Charlotte is going nowhere adding him.

Get out of the last year of Hayward's contract.  Get a star for tickets for a year.  Get a decent young player on a minimum contract for a couple of years.

They already have the star to sell tickets.   They need to win games to sell more.   This doesn't help.

Yes but Hayward is a terrible contract and they need some future cap room for Bridges and eventually Ball.  Given his injury history and the extra year at 31.5 million, Hayward might actually be a worse contract than Westbrook.

They have sufficient space to resign Bridges and Martin this off-season, so they don’t need to make a move this year.  Next year could be trickier depending what they want to do with Washington, but Hayward as an expiring is much easier to deal with than Hayward with two-years left.  In short, I don’t expect them to move Hayward unless they get players they like more.  There is no need from a cap/tax perspective to do anything immediately.

Dealing him as an expiring would require salary back though.  If they want to clear him a year early, they need to move him this summer for expiring contracts and no one would want him except in a Westbrook style deal.

Hayward and Westbrook don't match salaries tho, so Charlotte would have to send out additional salary AND likely take back more salary next season, which could in fact make staying under the tax line more difficult than just keeping Hayward, while also making their team worse in the short run.

The general rule of the NBA is to not make a long-term salary dump before you need to, and there's no reason for Charlotte to deviate from that rule.  I get that you want to make the Lakers better, but Charlotte doesn't need to do that.