NBA Draft: Charlotte Hornets should trade No. 2 pick for established veteran

With the No. 2 pick Thursday night in the NBA Draft, the Charlotte Hornets ...

Shouldn’t pick anybody.

Instead, they should trade the pick.

COUNTERPOINT: Draft potential star

While my esteemed colleague Rod Boone has written that he would prefer the Hornets use the pick on guard Scoot Henderson, I would rather Charlotte deal that No. 2 pick to trade for a proven veteran who’s going to help them immediately as well as some other assets to help down the road.

My reasoning is this. I don’t believe Henderson or Alabama’s Brandon Miller — the two players everyone believes the Hornets are strongly considering at No. 2 — are stars in the making. Solid NBA players? Sure. But Henderson doesn’t shoot well from 3-point range and plays the same position as Charlotte’s actual star, point guard LaMelo Ball.

Miller would be my preference in terms of sheer basketball talent, and ESPN draft analyst Jay Bilas prefers him over Henderson as well. But I don’t like Miller’s off-court baggage and he faded away at the end of the NCAA season when Alabama needed him to be at his best.

In other words, let’s not pretend either one of these guys is French phenom Victor Wembanyama. There was only one true Victor in that draft lottery, and it wasn’t the Hornets. (San Antonio didn’t deserve the No. 1 pick, either, given the Spurs already have employed David Robinson and Tim Duncan, but that’s another story.)

The No. 2 pick is still a massive prize when used correctly. Bill Russell and Kevin Durant were No. 2 overall picks, but so was Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. It’s a slot that will be coveted by many.

I’d rather the Hornets use it as a lever to acquire someone like DeAndre Ayton, Karl-Anthony Towns, Zach LaVine, Brandon Ingram or, yes, even Zion Williamson.

Williamson, who grew up mostly in Spartanburg, S.C., and then played one telegenic season at Duke, is an enigma. He has only played in 37% of the games in his four seasons in New Orleans, but he’s so spectacular when he does play (a career average of 25.8 points per game) that I’d ultimately be willing to take that risk.

The Hornets have dealt with frequently injured players before (see: Gordon Hayward) who don’t have nearly Zion’s enormous upside. If Zion ever did get healthy, Charlotte would immediately become a playoff team. And that’s no small thing. Lest we forget, the Hornets haven’t made the playoffs since 2016. That’s the longest current non-playoff streak in the NBA.

The fact that Michael Jordan is on his way out as majority owner for the Hornets but remains technically in charge of this hugely important draft night? Well, it’s not ideal. We’ve seen MJ’s personnel moves for more than a dozen years, and they are a lot less effective than his fadeaway jumper ever was.

But that’s the way it is going to be, and MJ owes Charlotte a going-away present after never winning a single playoff series during his tenure as majority owner. It’d be nice for MJ to hit a 35-footer on the way out the door.

Trading the pick offers a chance to do just that.