Hornets and Hawks Trade Perimeter Players Ahead of Training Camp

The NBA is inching toward training camp, but the transaction wire isn’t waiting. Two Southeast Division rivals just reshuffled their perimeter decks.

The Charlotte Hornets are sending forward Dorian Finney-Smith to the Atlanta Hawks for guards Buddy Hield and Ryan Nembhard, according to a person with direct knowledge of the deal who spoke on condition of anonymity because it has not been formally announced.

It’s a small trade on the surface. The timing and the names say otherwise.

Finney-Smith Moves Again

Finney-Smith, 33, has long carried the 3-and-D label, the kind of veteran wing every contender claims to covet. Last season in Houston, that reputation stalled.

Across 37 games for the Rockets, he posted career lows nearly across the board: 3.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, 33.3% from the field and just 27% from beyond the arc. For a player whose value is tied directly to spacing the floor and guarding on the perimeter, those numbers cut deep.

Charlotte had only just brought him in July, picking him up for cash considerations. Now he’s on the move again, this time to a Hawks team still trying to find the right mix around its backcourt and wings. Atlanta is betting there’s more in the tank than last season’s slump suggests.

Charlotte Doubles Down on Shooting

On the other side, the Hornets stay locked in on a clear theme: shooting, and more of it.

Hield, also 33, is one of the league’s most established marksmen. A career 39.5% shooter from three, he has built his name on volume and accuracy from deep. Yet in Atlanta he never really found a lane. After arriving in February in the deal that also brought Jonathan Kuminga to the Hawks and sent Kristaps Porziņģis to the Golden State Warriors, Hield struggled to crack the rotation.

Charlotte offers something different: opportunity and shots to be taken. For a team leaning into spacing and perimeter firepower, a proven shooter of Hield’s profile fits the brief instantly.

Nembhard comes with a different kind of intrigue. The younger brother of Indiana Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard, he was thrown into the fire in Dallas, forced into a starting point guard role while Kyrie Irving recovered from a torn anterior cruciate ligament. That trial by necessity gave him reps most young guards wait years to see.

Now he walks into a Hornets backcourt where minutes are there to be won, especially for a guard who can organize an offense and keep the ball moving to all those new shooters.

Training camps are only days away. Rosters, though, are still shifting. For Charlotte and Atlanta, this is more than a minor shuffle between neighbors — it’s one last attempt to get the balance right before the real questions of the season begin.