Guess who's back? Hornets sign center Mason Plumlee to one-year contract

The Charlotte Hornets are on the board in NBA free agency, signing center Mason Plumlee to a one-year, $3.6 million deal with the squad, Shams Charania of ESPN reported. Plumlee, 35, was with the Hornets from 2021-22 to parts of 2022-23, before being dealt to the Los Angeles Clippers in 2023.

He spent the last year with the Suns, averaging 4.5 points on 61.9% from the field across 74 games with the team. He was in a center room with several other former Hornets, including Nick Richards and Jusuf Nurkic.

After the Hornets dealt Nurkic yesterday to the Utah Jazz and Mark Williams last week to the Phoenix Suns, it was expected that the team would look to bring in another center to add front-court depth. Luke Kornet, DeAndre Ayton, and Day'Ron Sharpe were all mentioned, but President of Basketball Operations Jeff Peterson decided to go with Plumlee.

The Hornets are going with a center who, at this point in his career, is a depth option might show their hand with how they feel about the center room. They selected Creighton's Ryan Kalkbrenner in the second round on Thursday, and have had Moussa Diabate. Diabate could finally become the franchise's starting center, after having the job locked up for all of one game in February.

This likely will not be the only move the franchise makes, as they still have the taxpayer MLE, projected around $14 million a year. With many of the top free agents already off the market, it's difficult to envision who the squad could use the money on.

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