2024 NBA draft redo: Who the Hornets should have selected instead of Tidjane Salaün

Originally posted on Charlotte Hornets on SI
By Schuyler Callihan | Last updated Jun 4, 2025 8:57 AM ET

There were reports just hours before the draft that the Charlotte Hornets could take Tidjane Salaün with the sixth overall pick last summer. Despite the rumors floating around, most assumed Charlotte would still pick Tennessee guard Dalton Knecht or UConn big man Donovan Clingan, the two names heavily tied to them throughout the draft process.

Hornets President of Basketball Ops Jeff Peterson took the long approach, going with Salaün's potential and knowing that he wouldn't make much of an impact right away. His rookie campaign was about as rough as you'd expect, but it's very clear that Salaün is far from being a big piece of this franchise, if that's something he even evolves into.

Instead of taking the low-risk, potential high-reward pick in Salaün, who should Peterson have taken?

I'm not going to say Jared McCain or Kel'el Ware because that would be unfair. At the time of the draft, no one had either of those two going in the top 10. Dalton Knecht would have made a ton of sense and is who I thought they should have taken initially, but the more I think about it, Matas Buzelis would have fit in nicely in between LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller.

His 112 defensive rating won't show it, but defensively, the tools are there for him to be a solid defender. Knecht, on the other hand, is a massive liability defensively. Buzelis, at one point, was considered a possibility as a top two or three pick in the draft, so taking him at six wouldn't have been as big of a head-scratcher as Salaün.

Instead of landing in Charlotte, Buzelis landed with the Chicago Bulls at the 11th overall pick. In 80 games (31 starts), he averaged 8.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, and one assist per game while shooting 45% from the field and 36% from three. Having another lengthy ball-handler who can shoot it would have expanded Charlotte's offense greatly.