Mitch Kupchak speaks: What you should know from the Hornets GM's chat with the media
He spoke about the trade deadline, LaMelo's injury status, coach James Borrego, the franchise's direction and more
All was quiet for the most part during Thursday’s trade deadline for Mitch Kupchak.
The Hornets GM did pull the trigger on one acquisition, but it was only a minor blip on the radar. He traded for Brad Wanamaker, Toronto’s 2022 second-round pick — which is top-54 protected — and cash considerations from Golden State in exchange for the Hornets’ 2025 second-round pick, which is top-55 protected. That was the extent of things.
“We held off on doing that deal probably until less than an hour before 3 p.m., just to make sure that there wasn’t a better opportunity for us to improve the team,” Kupchak said Friday. “We didn’t miss out on any opportunity, In fact, almost all the time that hour before 3 p.m., the trade deadline gets very quiet because everybody basically has their deals done. And that was the case (Thursday).”
Here’s what else you should know about Kupchak’s thoughts on key topics:
1. Does the Wanamaker deal signal the Hornets aren’t going to be potential players in the buyout market, which is already underway?
The answer to that is simple. No, not at all. During the call, I asked Kupchak if he has any more moves up his sleeve.
“I’m not sure they are up my sleeve, but obviously I know what you mean, right?” he said. “We do have the ability, we have flexibility, some cap room. We have an exception that we can use. There haven’t been a lot of buyouts to date, but there probably will be more. I don’t know where we fit into the plans of any of these players that may get bought out, but yes, we will look and make contact with players and their representatives if they are bought out and decide accordingly.”
He later added: “That right now is a long shot.”
2. How did things change, if at all, after LaMelo Ball’s injury?
He kind of danced around that question but indicated Wanamaker is an insurance policy should Ball indeed be lost for the rest of the season as originally feared,
“There were rumors that he would be out for the year,” Kupchak said, “… and then we heard after four weeks or five, he’ll be re-evaluated and there is a possibility — just based on other players that have had this injury — that maybe he does come back at some portion at the end of the year. So after taking both (angles), you do have to think it through. One thing we know we are not going to do in any event is put his health in jeopardy. In other words, if we get to the end of the year and we’re in a playoff hunt, and he’s not quite ready or we feel we can push it and get him back on the court, we won’t do that. That makes no sense for us to do that. He’s a big part of what we’ve got going on moving forward and we won’t jeopardize his health.”
3. Speaking of LaMelo’s injury, is there any clarification about his status for the rest of the season? How did things change so much and quickly with the diagnosis?
Kupchak explained how the Hornets being 2,000-plus miles away complicated it. The first tests Ball underwent in Los Angeles showed no fracture.
“We were on the road and the diagnosis was conducted by a visiting team physician with tools that were available to him at the arena,” Kupchak said. “The only thing there is an X-ray machine. He flew to San Antonio the next day and in San Antonio he got an MRI, which is a much more thorough diagnostic tool. And we forwarded that information to our team physician and we also forwarded it to a hand specialist in New York, (Dr.) Michelle Carlson, who is renowned with hand injuries. In fact, she has done two or three surgeries on our players, most recently Cody Zeller.
“Her feeling was that there would be a surgery with a pin placed where the fracture was. It was a non-displaced fracture (with) 4-5 weeks in a cast. And then with young people they expect a bone to heal in 5-6 weeks. If that’s the case, then the cast would come off if the bone is healed. (Then) it’s just a matter of getting flexibility back in your hand.
“It’s not to say that it can’t go 6-7 weeks. But what it doesn’t do, it doesn’t preclude him from coming back this season. Certainly we are not sitting here and making trades — or made a trade — assuming that he is coming back, OK? Because you can’t replace a player like that even if you understood he wouldn’t be back. We have to wait until the five weeks expire, then he’ll get a test scan or an MRI and we’ll go from there. And at that time we’ll also evaluate where we are as a team. That’s another part of the equation.
4. Is center the biggest position of need?
A thousand times, yes.
“Going forward, since both Cody and Biz (Biyombo) are going to be free agents,” Kupchak said, “that would be an area of concern going forward. This summer they are going to have options and we may or may not have options. So that was and that is a focus going forward.”
5. Just how would he asses the team’s season so far and their overall direction?
“Going into the season we didn’t know, especially with our younger players, where we would be at this time of the season,” Kupchak said. “I think our younger players have gotten better. I think our veterans have made grand contributions. There is no doubt that the Gordon Hayward addition upgrades our talent overall. And LaMelo, we did not expect him to be this advanced early in his career. I don’t think we feel anything different about him than we did before the draft in terms of the next 10, 12 years. But clearly he’s adjusted quicker, I think, than we anticipated.
“And then we’ve gotten improvement across the board with our younger players. I think our coach (James Borrego) has done a great job in managing the style of play, our pace. I think defensively we’ve gotten better. So in short, maybe we are a little bit ahead of where I thought we would be. But I didn’t go into the season with a specific goal of making the playoffs or winning the first round or getting into the playoff seeding. This is a process that we are trying to work our way through and we understand you can’t rush it. It may take a year or two and it’s about adding talent, developing young players and looking for opportunities.”
Love your work, Rod. Great articles