Hornets and Hawks Trade Role Players Ahead of NBA Training Camp
NBA training camps are days away, but the trade market hasn’t completely gone to sleep in the Southeast Division.
The Charlotte Hornets are sending forward Dorian Finney-Smith to the Atlanta Hawks for guards Buddy Hield and Ryan Nembhard, a person with direct knowledge of the deal confirmed Tuesday to USA TODAY Sports. The person requested anonymity because the trade has not yet been made official.
It’s not a blockbuster. It is revealing.
Charlotte doubles down on shooting
The Hornets only picked up Finney-Smith in July in a cash considerations deal, a low-risk flyer on a veteran known for his 3-and-D profile. That reputation, though, didn’t show up last season.
At 33, Finney-Smith is coming off the worst offensive year of his career. In 37 games for the Houston Rockets, he averaged just 3.3 points and 2.5 rebounds, while shooting 33.3% from the field and 27% from beyond the arc — all career lows. The defensive instincts remain, but the production dipped hard.
Charlotte is pivoting quickly.
By flipping him to a division rival, the Hornets lean even further into their recent emphasis on spacing and perimeter firepower. Hield, also 33, is the headline piece coming back. One thing about him has never been in doubt: he can shoot.
The veteran guard owns a career 39.5% mark from 3-point range, one of the more reliable long-distance resumes in the league. He never truly found his footing in Atlanta after arriving in February in the multi-team deal that brought Jonathan Kuminga to the Hawks and sent Kristaps Porziņģis to the Golden State Warriors. Hield struggled to crack the rotation, squeezed by a crowded backcourt and shifting priorities.
In Charlotte, the equation changes. Minutes are there to be claimed. Shots, too.
Nembhard adds a different kind of intrigue. The younger brother of Indiana Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard, he was thrust into a starting point guard role with the Dallas Mavericks while Kyrie Irving recovered from a torn anterior cruciate ligament. It was a trial by fire, but it showed he can organize an offense and survive heavy responsibility when injuries hit.
For a Hornets team that has often lacked steady guard depth behind its stars, that kind of experience matters.
Atlanta bets on a reset for Finney-Smith
From the Hawks’ side, this is a cleaner, more targeted play.
Hield never broke through in Quin Snyder’s rotation. Nembhard, while promising, sat behind more established options at guard. Atlanta turns two pieces on the fringes into one veteran forward whose skill set, if it rebounds even partway to previous levels, fits a clear need.
Finney-Smith’s value has always lived in the margins — defending multiple positions, spacing the floor just enough, doing the connective work that doesn’t always show in box scores. Last season in Houston, that version of him went missing.
Atlanta is wagering that was the outlier, not the new normal.
In a conference where wings who can guard and hit open shots are gold, the Hawks are taking a calculated shot that a change of scenery, role, and expectations can jolt Finney-Smith back to relevance.
Training camp will tell how quickly these pieces settle. For now, two division rivals have quietly redrawn the edges of their rotations — and given a few veterans and a young guard a very different runway into the new season.
