Hornets Trade Noah Vonleh to Orlando Magic
Charlotte Hornets, Orlando Magic and Brooklyn Nets have made a deal, it was announced on Friday, sending Noah Vonleh to partner with Joel Embiid, Andre Drummond, Andrew Wigins and George De Paula in pursuit of an NBA title.
After a lot of discussions between the two teams, the deal was agreed after the third team – Brooklyn Nets, have been included into the deal.
Charlotte Hornets received Jakob Poltl, Reggie Jackson, Kevin Seraphin, Juwan Staten and two second round picks. Orlando Magic picked up power forward Noah Vonleh while Brooklyn Nets acquired Tobias Harris, Satnam Singh and Magic 25 first round pick.
In a separate deal, the Hornets shipped Rodney Hood to San Antonio Spurs in exchange for a second round pick.
After missing out on the postseason for quite a few seasons now, the front office in Charlotte is no hurry to make a Playoff push. As a result, they flipped one of their forwards for a center who’s still on a rookie deal and shows amazing ability to protect the rim. The Nets were unable to provide the Austrian center with the playing time he needs and he’ll be looking to see his role increased in the Buzz City. This season, Poltl averaged 7.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 18 games for the Nets.
“We’re extremely excited to have Jakob here”, said the Hornets GM Dejan Cvetnarevic. “The process of making trade decisions is tough and we had to do a lot of homework before agreeing to trade Noah Vonleh. This was a good time to move forward as the trade allowed us to add a young defensive player to complement the culture we’re building here in Charlotte. We hope Jakob has finally found his home in the CSL with the Hornets. Everyone in the Hornets organization wishes Noah all the best in Orlando. The same goes for Rodney who has moved to San Antonio.”
The trade also means all Juwan Staten, Reggie Jackson and Kevin Seraphin will return for another stint in Charlotte, as all of them have worn the Hornets uniform before. Most recently, Staten was a part of the Hornets team last year that ended up finishing the season with a 22-60 score.
It’s also worth mentioning that after the two trades announced on Friday, the Hornets own 1 second round pick in 2023, 5 second round picks in 2024, and 2 second round picks in 2025.
Expect the Hornets to make more moves before the trade deadline with Bradley Beal, Enes Kanter, Michael Carter-Williams and Roy Hibbert currently on the block.