Nick Richards Photo by Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images However, if JT Thor significantly outplays him in training camp and some of the other players on this list play well, he could drop into the danger zone. Long switchable wings who can play multiple positions and shoot threes like Jalen has flashed generally are useful guys to keep around. Overall, I think McDaniels is most likely safe from being cut, his development trajectory has been steady over the past two seasons, not to mention the team has an additional year of control with the team option for 22-23 season. His -11.2 net rating per cleaning the glass was one of the worst on/off numbers in the league, but that doesn’t capture the team context with no LaMelo, Cody Martin, Graham and PJ for the majority of that stretch, it was always going to be an uphill struggle to stay competitive.īeing honest the only reason I have considered him as there’s a slim chance his guarantee date has been pushed back and I wanted to cover all the basis. On the flip side McDaniels did show some promise as a potential rotation player last season while filling in for the injured Hayward, post all star break he averaged 9ppg 4rpg 1.5apg 0.5blk 0.9stl in 23mpg while shooting 48% from the field and 35% from three.

I had Thor ranked as a first round prospect at 28 th on my board, despite only just turning 19 and being 4 years younger than McDaniels I think he could provide real competition with McDaniels for playing time, does the team have need for both Thor and McDaniels long term? Despite Thor getting thrown into the deep end in Summer League with little practice time due to the NBA moratorium he impressed. However, the team have just drafted JT Thor, a longer more defensive minded player who’s three point shooting likely projects to be better than McDaniels. Perhaps the most popular player among this list among fans, I imagine some are surprised to even see him being considered. Jalen McDaniels Photo by Will Newton/Getty Images So who do we expect to merge victorious? Wait, that’s the wrong question… Who do we expect to lose? That’s more like it, let’s look at the cases for each player. Financially there isn’t much between the four players in question with each making between $1.5-1.8 for the 21-22 season, with Iwundu and Martin expiring after this year and McDaniels and Richards having team options for 22-23 season. Christian Wood was cut by Milwaukee in 2019 in favour of Tim Frazier, Alex Caruso was waived by OKC in favour of former Charlotte Bobcat Reggie Williams, sometimes these decisions on the fringes of the roster can look perplexing years down the line. Who makes the final roster will likely have little impact on the team’s performance this year but there are always exceptions to the rule.

However, in some rare cases the team, player and agent can agree to push back the guarantee date which often goes unreported. Both Richards and Iwundu have fully guaranteed contracts for the 21-22 season, while Martin (16 th August) and McDaniels (25 th August) had Non-Guaranteed deals which appear to have been picked up.

I currently project Wes Iwundu, Nick Richards, Cody Martin and Jalen McDaniels to be the four players competing for the last three spots in the “Hornets Roster Spot Deathmatch”. Following a flurry of moves this off-season the Charlotte Hornets roster currently have 16 players who have a chance to finish on the final 15-man roster.