NBA Free Agency 2018: 5 offseason targets for the Charlotte Hornets

4. Jameer Nelson

Jameer Nelson’s career is on its last legs. After being traded from Denver to New Orleans last offseason, he was an acceptable backup, but never found a consistent place in the rotation, as his two most common five man lineups only had DeMarcus Cousins in common. They tried him with other starters, they tried him in primarily bench lineups, but once Rajon Rondo was healthy and stable, they shipped Nelson to Chicago in the Nikola Mirotic trade. Chicago, who would later receive an anti-tanking warning for not playing Justin Holiday and Robin Lopez, had no use for a 36 year-old point guard, so they shipped Nelson to Detroit for Willie Reed and the right to swap second round picks in 2022.

Nelson would provide the Hornets absolutely nothing on the defensive end, but his offense, assuming the 33 percent 3 point shooting number he had last year comes back in line to his career numbers, could be enough to justify bringing him on as a minimum contract third point guard. Further, as Malik Monk, as well as a possible draft selection from picks 11 or 55, learns how to play the point guard position at the NBA level, Nelson could provide a secondary, coach-like perspective. He will likely not be more effective on the court than Michael Carter-Williams, but in extremely small doses he might be able to provide more than current third string point guard Julyan Stone.