One move the Charlotte Hornets should have ended up making this offseason

With the NBA offseason coming to an end shortly, it's a great time to look back and wonder what could have been. It's a time of regret, where fans look back at some moves other teams made, or moves their own team made, and argue that their team should or should not have made that move.

Trading players is never easy. Trading players in today's NBA? Well, it's as difficult as it gets.

The new CBA, put in place two years ago, has essentially given teams around a two year window to fully compete. The first and second aprons have put severe limitations on teams abilities to do almost anything. Teams in the second apron are unable to aggregate contracts, cannot sign free agents to anything above a minimum, can't trade multiple players in one deal, the list goes on and on.

The Charlotte Hornets are not in any spot to worry about the aprons. They are $19 million below the first apron, and $31 million below the second apron. What this means, though, is that the Hornets are in a perfect position to help teams get out of the apron by taking on some of their expensive talent.

Of the teams in the second apron, one of them was actively trying to shed salary: the Boston Celtics.

The Celtics made their first deal of the offseason days before the NBA Draft, sending guard Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers for Anfernee Simons and two second-round picks. Holiday could have been an interesting fit for the Hornets had they engaged, as he would have helped the backcourt tremendously on the defensive side of the ball. As incredible as LaMelo Ball is, his defense is not a strong point at all.

The second player that the team ended up dealing was Kristaps Porzingis, who was sent to the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team deal.

Porzingis, 29, is entering the final year of his contract, slated to make $30 million. He had a down year for the Celtics, despite what some of the numbers read off. His playoff performance was nearly unplayable, averaging 7.7 points on 31.6% from the field, 15.4% from three, and 68.9% from the free throw line. His poor play can be chalked up due to a mysterious illness, which still has yet to be revealed.

Still, Kristaps averaged 19.5 points across his 42 games played, shooting a career high 41.2% from deep. He was an intriguing trade option and was dealt shortly after the team sent away Holiday. The question is, why would the Hornets want another center who cannot stay on the court? It's simple. Charles Lee is the head coach.

Charles Lee's offense clearly needs a shooting center. When the team acquired Jusuf Nurkic from the Phoenix Suns, Lee even mentioned that he was excited to have a big man who could shoot, and that it added a "bonus" to their offense.

Lee has history with Porzingis as well, as the Hornets leader was an assistant coach with the Celtics during their championship run a year ago. Kristaps' fit with the Hornets makes plenty of sense. He's still a high level paint defender, can stretch the floor, and is a lob threat for LaMelo Ball. He's a solid post-up player who can work his way to the free throw line, something the Hornets do need more of.

As for a trade, it's extremely simple. The Celtics are depleted at the center position. They let Luke Kornet and Al Horford walk, moved on from Porzingis, and only added Chris Boucher and Luka Garza.

The Hornets moved off starting center Mark Williams in the offseason, sending him to the Phoenix Suns in a deal that got the Hornets UConn wing Liam McNeeley in the draft. Williams had effort and defensive problems, but a change of scenery could still benefit him. He plays a similar style of ball on the offensive end to centers the Celtics have had success with in the past few years, being a non-shooting, lob threat. He's also entering the final two seasons of his rookie deal, and the Celtics can move on from him if need be.

To make up the rest of the deal, the Hornets would have likely needed to include Josh Green and Josh Okogie. Green is coming off shoulder surgery, which is keeping him out indefinitely, and could be rerouted again by the Celtics. As for Okogie, the team ended up cutting him to clear up cap room. Okogie would have been the perfect wing for the Celtics roster, a two-way role player who can hit two threes a game and add two steals. The Celtics have not had a wing off the bench like Okogie in a few seasons, and he would instantly give a boost to their bench.

The Celtics would have brought in a young center to potentially pair with Jayson Tatum for the future, and Charles Lee gets his shooting big man.

Instead, we are months removed and the Hornets dealt Mark Williams to the Suns, cut Josh Okogie, and Josh Green is expected to miss some time. As for the Celtics, they dealt Kristaps Porzingis for a deal that ended up turning into RJ Luis, a two-way contract.

The Hornets also have a clear center problem to this point, with Moussa Diabate, Ryan Kalkbrenner, and Mason Plumlee being the squad's only big men. It was a big question amongst fans of who Jeff Peterson would bring in at center, but the President of Basketball Operations seems content with the guys he has.

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