NBA cap guru suggests Hornets could sign Tre Mann to low-cost deal

At the start of the 2024-25 season, it looked like Charlotte Hornets guard Tre Mann was going to be among the few serious candidates for the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award.

Mann provided the Hornets with a scoring punch off the bench, which was something they missed badly when he went out with a back issue. Before his season got shut down, Mann averaged 14.1 points, three assists, and 2.9 rebounds per game, connecting on 43% of shots from the field and 40% from beyond the arc.

With the fourth pick in the draft likely being a guard and the Hornets being financially strapped this offseason, there's no guarantee Mann stays put in Charlotte. What would it take to keep him around?

NBA cap guru Keith Smith of Spotrac recently projected his contract value at two years, $11 million.

"Mann has shown he can score and can be an NBA rotation player. Getting hurt this year really killed his chances at getting a bigger deal. Had he stayed healthy, he might have been looking at something in the range of $10-15 million AAV. As it stands, he’s likely to be more in the range of the Taxpayer MLE, if even that. Charlotte likely won’t issue the combo guard the qualifying offer. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Mann had to take a minimum deal and work his way back from there."

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