Hornets getting second round picks, trading away James Nnaji as part of Karl-Anthony Towns trade – At The Hive

The Charlotte Hornets, as they are wont to do, inserted themselves into a trade involving two other teams to try to pillage a couple of assets in return for helping them complete the trade. This time, they helped the Knicks and Timberwolves swap Karl-Anthony Towns for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. Originally it was reported that the Hornets would be acquiring DaQuan Jeffries and draft compensation.

We now have the rest of the details of the trade, and there is a lot more to it than that.

The Hornets are receiving three second-round picks (two via Knicks, one via Minnesota), along with DaQuan Jeffries, Charlie Brown and Duane Washington Jr., to complete the Karl-Anthony Towns-Julius Randle-Donte DiVincenzo trade, sources tell me, @JonKrawczynski and @FredKatz.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 2, 2024

Along with Jeffries, the Hornets are getting Charlie Brown and Duane Washington Jr. To sweeten the pot, the Knicks are giving up two second round picks, and the Timberwolves are throwing in one as well.

None of those players were on the Knicks active roster as of the time of the trade. In fact, Washington was under contract with Partizan Mozzart Bet in Serbia. All three players were signed-and-traded as part of the deal, with Partizan needing to help pull off some weird contract magic to allow Washington into the deal.

As for the second round picks, Rod Boone reported the specifics.

Compensation details: 2025 second rounder (via Minnesota, least favorable of Denver or Philadelphia), 2026 (Golden State via NY), 2031 (from NY) and $7.2 million in cash.

— Rod Boone (@rodboone) October 2, 2024

None of the second round picks look particularly appealing at first, though there’s no telling where that 2031 second round pick is going to fall. Also good on the organization for securing $7.2 million in cash. That’ll help cover some of those arena renovations or something.

The only thing that the Hornets reportedly gave up is the rights to center James Nnaji, who they drafted with the first pick of the second round in 2023. The Hornets reportedly drafted Nnaji against his will. Fortunately for the Nigerian born big, he’ll never have to worry about suiting up for the purple and teal. No word on if he’ll come over to the NBA now that he’d be joining the Knicks.

I don’t expect any of the newly acquired players to make it through the end of camp, if they join the team at all. Duane Washington is going to continue playing with Partizan, so he’s definitely not joining the roster. All of this was done to help the Knicks and Wolves make their trade. The Hornets just wanted the draft picks and the money. Good on them for squeezing some assets, however minor, from a situation that really had nothing to do with them. And in the process, they did something that no team had never done.

Charlotte will acquire the 3 players from New York with the $8M room exception.

The Hornets become the first team to acquire a player(s) using a signing exception.

The rule was included in the 2023 CBA. https://t.co/UwOAhGdKY0

— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) October 2, 2024