Atlanta wanted a defender and was willing to eat a bad contract to get one.
The Hawks sent guards Buddy Hield and Ryan Nembhard plus cash to the Charlotte Hornets for forward Dorian Finney-Smith on Tuesday, a deal first reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania and made official at 9:44 p.m. ET.
The production on both sides is ugly
Finney-Smith averaged 3.3 points last season with Houston. Hield averaged 7.6 across 51 games split between Golden State and Atlanta. Neither of those lines belongs to a player teams fight over.
This was a money trade dressed as a basketball trade. Atlanta gets a 10-year veteran wing who can defend multiple positions, which the Hawks needed. Charlotte gets salary and a trade exception.
Follow the cap sheet
Hield carries a fully guaranteed $9.66 million this season, plus a $10.1 million player option for 2027-28 that is partially guaranteed at $3.14 million if he is waived. That is the kind of paper teams pay to move.
Atlanta now sits roughly $1.7 million under the luxury tax and created a $2.15 million trade exception. Charlotte sits about $23.1 million below the tax with a $4.5 million exception of its own.
The Hornets had to clear a 21-man offseason roster spot just to make the trade legal, and now they hold 18 players on standard contracts with 17 guaranteed. They have to be at 15 by opening night.
Nembhard is the collateral damage
Ryan Nembhard is expected to be waived by Charlotte, per Charania. If that happens he can sign anywhere except Atlanta.
He deserves better. The 23-year-old went undrafted in 2025, then played 60 games with 27 starts for Dallas last season, averaging 6.6 points, 5.3 assists and 2.2 rebounds in 19.5 minutes on 41.5% shooting and 35.6% from three. His salary is an expiring $2.15 million.
That is a rotation-caliber backup point guard on a minimum-level number, and he is about to be cut for roster math. The Nuggets are expected to be among multiple suitors on a two-way if he clears, according to Marc Stein.
Nembhard’s year has been absurd
Track the journey. Dallas picked up his $2.15 million option for 2026-27, then traded him to Atlanta in a three-team deal in July. Atlanta shipped him to Charlotte on Tuesday. Charlotte is about to waive him.
Four organizations in three months for a player who has never done anything wrong. Jake Fischer speculated on a Bleacher Report stream that Charlotte could waive Hield too, though that leaves more dead money on the books.
Who won
Atlanta, narrowly. Finney-Smith on a Hawks team that needed wing defense is a fit even if the scoring is nonexistent, and the Hawks ducked under the tax line doing it.
Charlotte acquired Finney-Smith plus three second-rounders from Houston earlier this offseason and just flipped him for salary. That is a front office churning assets without a plan anyone outside the building can see.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.