Sources: Knicks trade center Willy Hernangomez to Hornets
The New York Knicks are trading center Willy Hernangomez to the Charlotte Hornets, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Charlotte is sending forward Johnny O’Bryant and its own 2020 and 2021 second-round draft picks to the Knicks, league sources said.
Hernangomez’s representatives recently had informed Knicks officials that he wanted to be traded, seeking a team in which Hernangomez could continue his development as a young NBA center. Hernangomez, 23, had fallen out of the Knicks’ rotation this season, playing in just 26 of the team’s 55 games and averaging 4.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and nine minutes.
Several teams had engaged in talks for Hernangomez over the past month, but Charlotte worked to finalize a deal Wednesday. The 6-foot-11 Hernangomez entered the NBA a season ago with the Knicks and blossomed as the season progressed. He averaged 8.2 points, seven rebounds, 1.3 assists and 18.4 minutes in 72 games last season and was a member of the All-Rookie first team.
Hernangomez has two years remaining on the four-year rookie contract he signed in 2016: a guaranteed $1.54 million in 2018-19 and a trigger date worth $1.7 million in 2019-20.
The Knicks acquired Hernangomez with the No. 35 overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft out of Spain, where he starred for Real Madrid.
O’Bryant was a second-round draft pick to Milwaukee in 2014 and has played parts of four seasons with the Bucks, Denver Nuggets and Hornets.
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