The headline pretty much covers it. There have been rumors of this very trade happening in the last few days, and now Shams Charania is reporting that the deal is done.
The main motive for the move as far as I can tell comes from the Hawks wanting to get out of the last year of Buddy Hield’s contract. He has a $10 million player option for 2027-28 that he will almost surely pick up. Finney-Smith has two more years on his contract after this one, but they aren’t guaranteed, so he can be released without penalty. Hield only played in seven games for Atlanta after he was acquired in the trade for Kristaps Porzingis, so they apparently didn’t have much use for him.
The Hornets will be losing the defensive acumen and theoretical shooting ability of Dorian Finney-Smith and replacing it with the high volume 3-point bombing of Buddy Hield. He’s seen his accuracy dip just a touch the last couple of seasons, but Hield is still a very accurate 3-point shooter and is one of the most high volume distance shooters in the league. I don’t know how big a part of the rotation he’ll be when everyone is healthy, but he certainly fits the Hornets’ desire to load up the perimeter with 3-point shooting.
I don’t know what to make of Ryan Nembhard’s inclusion in the deal. He had some really eye opening moments as an undrafted rookie, including a couple of high scoring games and a 23 assist performance against the Bulls late in the season, and he led all rookies in assists per game. The Mavericks liked him enough to sign him to a full NBA contract after a pretty short stint as a two-way player, but then they traded him to the Hawks in July for Zaccharie Risacher. He seems like a good get as young guard depth, but I have no idea how the Hornets would fit him on the roster. With this trade, the Hornets have 18 players that you could realistically see make the final roster, and that’s three too many. I don’t know which three are going to get let go.
We’ll have to find out relatively soon. The preseason starts in just a couple of weeks, and the rosters have to be down to 15 by October 19th. And maybe all this means there’s something else in the works that will consolidate some of those roster spots. Stay tuned. Maybe.
