The Hornets Will Bolster Their Frontcourt By Acquiring Montrezl Harrell From The Wizards

The Charlotte Hornets have been tabbed as a potentially active team in the NBA’s trade market all year due to their relatively meager options at center. The team has primarily turned to steady veteran Mason Plumlee and the undersized PJ Washington in that role, but whenever a center’s name has been kicked around in trade rumors, it’s always seemed like Charlotte has been mentioned as a potential destination.

Perhaps, then, it’s unsurprising that Charlotte went out and acquired a center right before the NBA’s trade deadline on Thursday afternoon. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Hornets called up the Washington Wizards and made a move to acquire Montrezl Harrell.

The report was confirmed by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN and Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, who mentioned that the Wizards will receive Ish Smith, Vernon Carey, and a second-round pick in exchange for Harell.

While Harrell is probably not going to help the Hornets all that much defensively — the team is 24th in defensive rating, so at the very least, they can’t get all that much worse — it’s hard not to be excited about what a player with his offensive profile can do alongside a guard like LaMelo Ball. Harrell came to the Wizards from the Los Angeles Lakers in the Russell Westbrook trade this past offseason, and has averaged 14.1 points and 6.7 rebounds in 24.3 minutes per game this year.

The Hornets sit in ninth place in the Eastern Conference at 28-28. The team is 3.5 games behind the Toronto Raptors for the 6-seed and boast a 2.5-game cushion above the Wizards for the 11-seed.