What are the Hornets doing with all of these guards?

After a flurry of moves in free agency and the draft, the Charlotte Hornets have a surplus of guards now. It seems like their 12-man rotation is almost made up of 10 guards and two bigs. It's not, but there's absolutely an imbalance there.

As of now, the Hornets have double-digit players who could get minutes at one of the two guard spots. Assuming they keep the majority of them after making moves for them, Josh Okogie, Kon Knueppel, Liam McNeeley, Brandon Miller, LaMelo Ball, Collin Sexton, Spencer Dinwiddie, Pat Connaughton, Nick Smith Jr., KJ Simpson, Tre Mann, Josh Green, and maybe even Sion James could see the court.

That's way too much, especially when the big-man rotation consists of Moussa Diabate, Miles Bridges, Ryan Kalkbrenner, Mason Plumlee, and Tidjane Salaun. Grant Williams will join when he recovers midway through the season. What is Jeff Peterson doing?

The Hornets lacked a lot of things last year, and two of them mainly involve guards: shooting and playmaking. The Hornets' bench was atrocious, and when starters got hurt, the lineup got really bad at the same time. Adding players like Collin Sexton and Pat Connaughton helps the shooting. Kon Knueppel does, too.

On the playmaking side, Tre Mann averaged over five assists during his run as a starter last year in Charlotte, and Spencer Dinwiddie is the only true point guard they've added to the roster this offseason, so they can provide the bench playmaking.

It's still a surplus, so what are they going to do? Well, the Hornets have options. Sexton, Connaughton, and Dinwiddie are all on expiring contracts, which makes them easy to trade. Getting Connaughton was also virtually free money, because they got rid of Vasilije Micic, a player who probably didn't want to play in Charlotte again, and gained two second-round picks.

He could be waived, although his shooting probably means he's going to stick around. What the Hornets can do is flip some of these assets into more picks. They can also do it later if they choose. Right now, they do need a big man, but there's no pressure to contend in 2025-26, so they can be patient.

They can afford to have a lackluster frontcourt for half a season before they send Connaughton, Sexton, and maybe others out at the deadline to get more assets, be they young players or draft picks. Peterson has hardly missed at all in his brief tenure as Hornets GM, so it's worth seeing it through. There are a lot of guards, but teams (Hornets and others) need guards.

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