Report: Knicks trading Willy Hernangomez to the Hornets

The Knicks have been floating both of their backup centers on the trade market recently. Today, they found a buyer for one.

The New York Knicks have traded backup center Willy Hernangomez to the Charlotte Hornets, per The Vertical’s Shams Charania.

In a later tweet, Charania added that the Knicks are getting Johnny O’Bryant and two future second round picks in return for Hernangomez.

The Hornets have come in as a surprise suitor, with the most recent interest reported in Hernangomez coming from the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons. Their interest arose after Hernangomez had his representatives let the Knicks front office know he wanted to be traded before the trade deadline due to his lack of playing time.

The Knicks were more keen on trading their other backup center Kyle O’Quinn, but there was little interest. They weren’t against trading Hernangomez and were seeking a return like this one, an expiring deal in O’Bryant and draft picks, the two second-rounders they received.

Hernangomez hasn’t played all that much this season — only featuring in 25 games and averaging 9.2 minutes per game — so it will be interesting to finally see him on the court. The Hornets will be hoping he brings the rookie season version of himself over to the Hornets.

As a rookie, Hernangomez played in 72 games, started in 22, and averaged 8.2 points and 7 rebounds per game. That was good enough for him to go first team All-Rookie. However, the Hornets do have a logjam in their front-court. They signed Dwight Howard this past off-season who has been playing very well, Frank Kaminsky who plays at least 20-minutes a night, and Cody Zeller who is working his way back from knee surgery after a strong outing last season. Marvin Williams is another front court player but he plays exclusively at the four.

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This move could potentially set the Hornets up for another move, though. There’s a chance they could attach Kaminsky and a second-round pick to one of their bad contracts to starts shedding salary for the upcoming and ensuing summers. There’s a small window to make that move though, with the deadline coming tomorrow.