Charlotte Hornets

Traded franchise cornerstones LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges within 48 hours, pivoting to full teardown mode — then kept stacking value, absorbing Dennis Schroder's expiring plus cash in the five-team Watson deal while moving Tre Mann to Washington. Re-signed Coby White (3yr/$74M) as a stabilizing veteran alongside Brandon Miller. Dorian Finney-Smith, absorbed from Houston via the MLE in July, was flipped to Atlanta in September for Buddy Hield, Ryan Nembhard and cash — and Hield was immediately re-routed to Chicago (with more cash) for 2024 No. 8 pick Rob Dillingham, turning a 33-year-old wing into a 21-year-old lottery guard plus two cash sweeteners in one afternoon. At $169.8M the roster mixes developmental prospects (Miller, Knueppel, McNeeley, Salaun, Dillingham) with movable veterans (Reid, Schroder) — a clean multi-year asset-accumulation posture.

Absorbed Dorian Finney-Smith into the non-taxpayer MLE — team salary cannot exceed $209.0M at any point this season.

2026-27 figures verified against Spotrac and HoopsRumors reporting. View full cap sheet on the Salary Cap page.