Hornets Exercising Pat Connaughton’s Option

The Hornets are picking up their team option on veteran wing Pat Connaughton for the 2026/27 season, reports Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer (Twitter link).

Connaughton’s option salary is $3,815,861, but it won’t become guaranteed until January, so there’s a good chance he won’t remain on this contract until then, despite having his option exercised. That expiring money could come in handy in certain trade scenarios for the Hornets, who have already been very active this offseason, agreeing to a pair of trades involving longtime starters.

Connaughton, 33, played a key reserve role for the Bucks team that won a title in 2021, but has seen his playing time decline since then. He averaged just 7.1 minutes per game in 42 appearances off the bench for Charlotte in 2025/26.

After being acquired from Milwaukee in a trade last July, the 11-year veteran was waived in February to help Charlotte navigate a roster crunch at the trade deadline, but the club brought him back a few days later after opening up a roster spot.

As Boone observes, Connaughton was an important voice in the Hornets’ locker room. If Charlotte values those off-court contributions as a veteran leader, the team could either keep him on this contract or waive him and re-sign him to a new one-year, minimum-salary deal, which would carry a much lower cap hit (projected at $2.45MM) while actually giving Connaughton a slight raise (to roughly $3.88MM).