The first month of the season has been a disaster for the 4-14 Charlotte Hornets, and they're looking to explore trade opportunities, perhaps even ones involving marquee free-agent signing Lance Stephenson, according to Grantland's Zach Lowe.
The Hornets have been aggressive making trade calls, according to sources across the league.
The Hornets are searching for upgrades on the wing and at power forward, per those sources, and they are willing to talk turkey on basically anyone other than Kemba Walker and Al Jefferson. Free agents signed this past offseason can’t be traded until December 15, and few would be surprised if the Hornets make and take calls on Lance Stephenson ahead of that trigger date.
Stephenson has not clicked with his new teammates at all. While he's known backcourt mate Kemba Walker since high school and it looked like the Hornets needed another creator, on the court they haven't been able to figure things out. Stephenson is shooting a miserable 37 percent from the field and 18 percent from the 3-point line. Both those numbers are bound to improve, but Charlotte head coach Steve Clifford has been looking at other options lately. He's benched Stephenson in two straight fourth quarters, and he has spoken honestly about how far away the shooting guard is from being a star.
That signing wasn't the only thing the Hornets did in the summer -- they also failed to sign power forward Josh McRoberts, who joined the Miami Heat. McRoberts was a favorite of Clifford's, and he made an impact on both ends last season. The ball movement, outside shooting, screening and heady defense he brought are missed now, and the combination of Stephenson and stretch forward Marvin Williams have rather obviously not made up for his absence. Williams is shooting 39 percent from 3-point range, which is fine, but he is not the complete player that McRoberts is.
Charlotte still has the talent to be an upper-echelon team in the East. It also has time to work through its problems because of the relative incompetence of most of the conference. Some changes do need to be made, though, and you can understand why the front office is working the phones. The question is whether or not something drastic will have to be done. Moving Stephenson would certainly fall into that category.
