The Charlotte Hornets aren’t done wheeling and dealing and releasing. The trades that sent out Gordon Hayward and PJ Washington brought back five players. That means three players need to be let go to get the Hornets down to the 15 player maximum. One of them is sure to be Kyle Lowry, who has always been considered a buyout candidate unless the Hornets found an unlikely trade candidate. The first of the others is reportedly 2021 lottery pick James Bouknight.
The Charlotte Hornets are waiving 2021 lottery pick James Bouknight, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 8, 2024
Bouknight would’ve had to be the betting favorite to be one of the players waived to trim the Hornets roster down. He’s been the de facto last player in the rotation the entire season to the point that two-way player Leaky Black is getting minutes and even starting games while Bouknight doesn’t get out of his warmups. According to Cleaning the Glass, he’s played 22 non-garbage time minutes all season. This comes after the team declined to pick up the fourth year option on his contract for next season. Clearly he’s not in the long term plans for this team, and even a bevy of injuries wasn’t enough for him to get another shot.
It closes the book on one of the biggest Hornets flops in recent memory. The Hornets took Bouknight in the 2021 draft with an 11th pick that was apparently highly coveted around the league according to general manager Mitch Kupchak. Bouknight fell farther down the draft board than many prognosticators expected, and perhaps it was justified. To add insult to insult, the Hornets compounded that mistake by trading a future pick to draft Kai Jones a few picks later, who didn’t even make it to the start of this season.
Bouknight finishes his Hornets career appearing in 79 games with zero starts. He averaged just 11 minutes per game, scoring 4.8 points and shooting 36.3% from the field and 33.5% from three.
