Hornets waive former first-round pick

The Hornets have waived Josh Okogie, Rod Boone of the Charlotte Observer reports. Okogie’s $7.7M salary for next season would have been guaranteed if he had remained on the roster beyond Tuesday.

Charlotte had looked to trade the wing but couldn’t find a partner. The two sides agreed to push back Okogie’s guarantee date past June 30 to give the front office more time to seek a trade involving the 27-year-old wing.

He appeared in a total of 40 games last season (15.6 minutes per contest), averaging 7.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals on .448/.348/.741 shooting. Okogie was acquired by the Hornets, along with three second-round picks, from Phoenix for Nick Richards in January. He appeared in 16 games (six starts) with Charlotte, averaging 8.9 points and 2.7 rebounds.

Charlotte has to make several more moves to ease its roster crunch. The Hornets still have 18 players on standard contracts and all three of their two-way spots are filled.

DaQuan Jeffries, who also doesn’t have a guaranteed contract, and Nick Smith Jr. are among the players who could lose their spots if the Hornets don’t make more trades.