In recent seasons, the Charlotte Hornets PR team would post almost daily Tweets listing the prospects that were in Charlotte for pre-draft workouts. The list would grow to over 100 prospects by the time draft week rolled around. A new ownership group and front office are now in place, and they seem to be holding their cards closer to the vest. We haven’t gotten any team reports of players that have worked out for the Hornets.
Thankfully, HoopsHype has done the hard work of compiling a list of prospects that have worked out for each team, so we can get an idea of who’s come through Charlotte. There are likely more that have worked out that didn’t get reported, but here’s who we know the Hornets have looked at.
The Hornets have had confirmed workouts with four players projected to go in their pick range–Reed Sheppard, Stephon Castle, Matas Buzelis, and Dalton Knecht. It’s interesting that the Hornets landed a workout with Castle considering the reports that he didn’t want to work out for teams that already had a long term option at starting point guard. There are probably a lot of things you can read into there, but I think it’s as simple as Castle and his people knowing the fit would be clean regardless of LaMelo Ball’s status.
There are a handful of second round prospects and a number of guys that aren’t really on NBA radars, including NCAA Tournament sensation and local kid DJ Burns. A summer league invite or two might come out of that list.
Typically the workouts stop a few days before the draft as teams shift their focus to final draft preparations, so there’s a chance a few more prospects come through Charlotte.
The first round of the draft is next Wednesday at 8:00 pm Eastern. The second round will be the following day.
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