The Charlotte Hornets have much to worry about going into 2016 NBA free agency.
The Hornets shocked most of the globe and put up 48 wins to land sixth in the Eastern Conference, earning a playoff bid and taking the Miami Heat to seven games before bowing out.
Now the front office to find a way to keep the surprising core together, highlighted by Jeremy Lin and Nicolas Batum. ESPN.com’s Chris Broussard revealed how the organization feels about both:
The Charlotte Hornets would like to re-sign free agent Jeremy Lin but are fearful of losing the point guard, according to league sources.
The Hornets’ top priority is bringing back Nicolas Batum, their free-agent swingman who had a breakout season, and they also want to re-sign Marvin Williams, who is a strong presence in the locker room, sources said.
If the Hornets focus on Batum first and foremost—as they should after he averaged 14.9 points, 5.8 assists and 6.1 rebounds per game last year—they have every right to fear losing Lin.
Lin could be as good as gone if the negotiations with Batum take too long. He’s still just 27 years old and just revitalized his career, coming off the bench with the Hornets to average 11.7 points and 3.0 assists per game on an average of 26.3 minutes per game.
A quote from Lin via the above link says it all:
I want to see how good I can become. I’m 27, and an athlete’s prime, or at least in the NBA, your prime is usually 27-30. That’s when you kind of peak physically [and] mentally and that’s where most players perform their best. So I’m going into my prime and I want to see how great I can be as a player, and that’s my purpose in free agency — so I’ll just exhaust every opportunity to see which one will be the best for me.
Charlotte already has Kemba Walker in front of Lin and Batum can play the 2, so if almost any team at all comes to Lin with an offer to act as starter the Hornets will have a hard time convincing him to stick around.
One popular theorized destination, the New York Knicks, seems out of the running after the team traded for Chicago Bulls.
It’s hard to know, though, if some other rebuilding franchise will offer Lin a starting slot. If not, it’s hard to see Lin leaving a good situation. But the Hornets have every right to feel the way they do going into the market’s opening.
