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Nick Smith Jr.'s future with the Hornets could be impacted by the NBA Draft

Originally posted on Charlotte Hornets on SI
By Austin Leake | Last updated May 13, 2025 8:58 AM ET

The NBA off-season can really shake things up and that was seen on Monday night when the Hornets received the fourth overall pick for the NBA Draft and the Dallas Mavericks winning it, despite less than a 2% chance.

However, the NBA Draft can also play a major role in a team's roster construction and future decisions. That may just be the case with a certain Hornets guard.

Nick Smith Jr. has had a very up-and-down career with the Hornets in his two-year tenure with the team. He's had games where he scored over 20 points and shot the ball efficiently from the field for a stretch. But he's also had games where he struggled mightily from the field to get going, and he's been in the G-League and at the end of the bench before.

At just 21 years old, it makes sense as to why he's shown signs of inconsistencies early on in his career, but who knows how long the Hornets can wait?

Since the Hornets drew the fourth pick in the upcoming draft, it places them in a position where the players likely on the board would be VJ Edgecombe, Tre Johnson, and Kon Knueppel. Those three players are all guards, which would be interesting since the Hornets have a couple of guards off the bench already.

Smith Jr., Tre Mann, KJ Simpson, Seth Curry, and Josh Green are all players who could have a bench role starting next season, but that could change if the Hornets draft another guard. It would be very surprising if the Hornets hung onto all of those names, especially with their incoming lottery pick.

Smith could potentially be one of the players on the way out, depending on the Hornets' pick selection.

The Hornets seem likely to re-sign Tre Mann, and they'll have Brandon Miller back in the lineup after a wrist injury that had him on the shelf for the majority of the season, which means the opportunities for Smith will be fewer and far between than they were this past season. Most of the minutes he played were due to the injuries the Hornets suffered at the guard position.

Other teams could show interest in the Hornets guard, and he may have more value than the other backup guards on the roster, considering he's a former first-round pick and has shown flashes of promise.