Bad Landing Spot: Charlotte Hornets

The Charlotte Hornets have been one of the teams linked to Russell Westbrook as a possible landing spot. Charlotte would be looking at it as a potential salary dump, as they want to move on from the contract of Gordon Hayward.

Swapping out unwanted contracts is something that occurs rather often in the NBA. Sometimes a change of scenery is all a player needs to get back on track. For the Lakers, there are risks taking on someone such as Hayward, so they may not need to sacrifice draft compensation in this deal as with other Westbrook proposals.

For the former MVP, he should be hoping that Charlotte doesn’t aggressively pursue him. The Charlotte Hornets already have a franchise starting point guard locked in in LaMelo Ball. That means Westbrook would not be in the starting lineup, as Terry Rozier is a much better fit alongside Ball than Westbrook would be.

Coming off the bench is something that the Charlotte Hornets would likely ask him to do. They need a backup point guard and coming off the bench, the ball would be in his hands a lot. But, coming off the bench doesn’t seem like something he is willing to do, at least not yet.

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Without a route to a starting spot, Charlotte is a bad landing spot for Westbrook. They have also given no indication that they would want to buy him out, so he would be in a reserve role for at least the 2022-23 season.