You could argue that before this season, there was not a single role player in the NBA more beloved by his own fanbase than Naz Reid. Simply uttering his name, devoid of context, became a popular meme among the Minnesota Timberwolves faithful in recent years, and for good reason. The former undrafted free agent grew into a Sixth Man of the Year winner and one of the best shooting bigs in basketball during his seven-year run with the Timberwolves.
Leaving the only team he had ever known this offseason has proven difficult thus far. Reid, 27, is posting big raw numbers in his first season as a full-time starter with the Charlotte Hornets, but there are bigger concerns under the surface. After shooting just under 57% on 2-pointers in Minnesota, he is at around 44% with the Hornets and struggling to score efficiently near the basket.
His defense has raised eyebrows as well, and after he was benched in an early game against the Detroit Pistons, Hornets coach Charles Lee said that Reid "didn't meet our standards in the first half, and at halftime we made the decision that he wouldn't play in the second half." Reid, along with an unprotected 2033 first-round pick, was one of the centerpieces of Charlotte's return in trading star guard LaMelo Ball to Minnesota. The 4-7 Hornets have struggled mightily without Ball, posting the NBA's worst offensive rating this season despite having the league's best offense from early December forward last season. Injuries have played a big part in those struggles, but at this stage, Reid's role as a foundational Hornets player moving forward is already coming into question.
Timberwolves beat writer Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic even said on his podcast that the chances of Reid getting traded again are "very high." "The Hornets now are clearly in a period of transition, and they decided that LaMelo Ball was not going to be a part of the team that they believe can eventually get to real contender status," Krawczynski explained. "They made a decision with that core group that they were not good enough as constructed and so they had to take a step back, amass some assets and go forward. And what that also means is that, A, the fans are going to be upset because they finally had a fun season last year and now it is going sideways again, but B, the possibilities of Naz Reid getting traded again are very high.
This is a roster that I think is going to change over quite a bit over the next couple of years as the Hornets look for the right combination of people to really vault into what they hope is contention." Krawczynski did not specify a timetable, and we've certainly seen frustrating starts turn into fruitful long-term partnerships, but all of this underlines just how difficult things have been for Reid and the Hornets so far this season. Charlotte knew what it was doing by trading Ball. The idea was to take a step back now to take a bigger step forward later.
If that's still the idea here, there should be plenty of teams with real interest in Reid, so let's identify a few possible landing spots for the sweet-shooting big man. The Warriors traded for and eventually re-signed Kristaps Porziņģis because they need big men who can shoot in a lineup featuring both Draymond Green and, presumably, Jimmy Butler eventually. Al Horford can cover some of those minutes, but he's 40 and can only be expected to play so much.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
