Let me start by saying I am not giving up on Tidjane Salaün. He's 19 years old and jumping ship on a teenager who played on one of the worst rosters in NBA history would be irresponsible.
With that being said — Charlotte drafting him No. 6 overall in the 2024 NBA Draft was a mistake. Full stop. Taking Salaün ahead of Donovan Clingan, Rob Dillingham, Matas Buzelis or Jared McCain was a head-scratching decision by the Hornets front office at the time, and looks even worse a year removed.
But the basketball gods were benevolent to the Hornets on Monday night, gifting the team the No. 4 pick in the 2025 draft, where they'll be able to draft a promising prospect who can immediately contribute to a pretty barren roster.
Salaün will still have a chance to contribure, because the Hornets will not be good again in 2025-26, but the front office has a (seemingly) prety easy way to make up for past draft mistakes.
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Potential targets for the Charlotte Hornets at pick No. 4
Whichever one of Ace Bailey, Dylan Harper or VJ Edgecombe is still available. it's kind of that simple!
Charlotte's roster is really, really bad. I am a LaMelo Ball believer and Brandon Miller was on a star track before his injury, but other than those two, this team is barren at most positions. The word "fit" should not be in the vocabulary of the team's front office for the next month. Fit doesn't matter when you're trying to fit a player on a team that hasn't won a playoff series since before they changed their name then changed it back.