Charlotte Hornets and Dennis Smith Jr. agree to one-year deal

The Charlotte Hornets have agreed to a one-year deal with Dennis Smith Jr., per The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

Smith has played for five teams across his five years in the NBA, appearing in 37 games (four starts) during the 2021-22 season with Portland. A native of Fayetteville, Smith was the ninth overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft out of North Carolina State and spent the first year-and-a-half of his career with Dallas before being shipping to New York as a part of the trade that sent Kristaps Porzingis to the Mavericks.

According to The Observer’s Rod Boone, Smith’s one-year deal is non-guaranteed.

As Boone mentioned in his tweet, this is a low-risk move that allows Charlotte’s front office to see what’s left in the tank for Smith. With just under a week until training camp starts, the Hornets have now signed five players to non-guaranteed contracts to bring the roster up to 19, leaving two guaranteed slots and one Two-Way slot open.

Unless one of the Exhibit 10 players is waived prior to camp opening, there will be a maximum of one more player signed to the Hornets roster during the preseason. Personally, this signing makes sense to me — Smith is more likely to be able to handle the defensive assignments given to him by head coach Steve Clifford than the older, less athletic guards on the market and it’s always nice to give a shot to a Carolina native. What are your thoughts?