Report: 4-5 Teams Interested In Lance Stephenson, But He Hopes To Remain Hornet

We’re down on Lance Stephenson’s future with the Charlotte Hornets, but still think it’s too early for the sides to part ways. Apparently Born Ready agrees. According to a new report, Stephenson hopes to remain with Charlotte despite several teams contacting the Hornets to express in trading for him.

Rumors surrounding a potential Stephenson deal began earlier this month after Grantland’s Zach Lowe wrote that the struggling Hornets were “aggressively seeking a trade.” Though there’s been no momentum in either direction since until today, the idea that he may simply be a bad fit in Charlotte has garnered traction. As teams call to inquire about his availability, though, Lance believes his fractured early relationship with the Hornets can be repaired.

Via Shams Charania of RealGM:

Lance Stephenson has garnered fresh trade inquiries into the Charlotte Hornets’ front office recently and wouldn’t be opposed to a potential move to the Brooklyn Nets, but hopes to remain part of and succeed in his partnership with the Hornets, league sources told RealGM.

Four to five NBA teams have shown an interest to the Hornets on Stephenson, but no deal is imminent, Stephenson has made clear his desire to help propel a turnaround and both sides believe there’s still time to salvage a productive relationship and run with the franchise, sources told RealGM.

Stephenson is a Brooklyn native and legend of the New York high school basketball scene. It makes sense that he’d long to play for his hometown Nets. But Billy King has little to offer Michael Jordan and Rich Cho in a presumptive trade, and Charlotte is surely unwilling to part with Stephenson for pennies on the dollar less than two months into the season.

It also bears mentioning that despite head-scratching plays like this one, Lance is playing well of late. He’s averaging 16.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 4.7 assists on 46.8 percent shooting in the Hornets’ three December games, the last two of which they’ve won. The problem for space-lacking Charlotte is that Lance is still yet to find his long-range stroke, a problem considering the optimistically streaky jump-shooting of the recently extended Kemba Walker.

Stephenson is a shaky fit with the Hornets, and that will always be the case unless he can find and improve upon the solid long-range shooting he showed last season. But it’s still too early to give up on this marriage. Charlotte likely knows it, and it appears Lance does, too.

Let’s revisit this in February.

What do you think?

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