Tony Parker

Back with the team that drafted him after a bizarre summertime in trade (in which the Hornets were somehow able to get two second-round picks for swapping Timofey Mozgov's $16 million salary for Biyombo's $17 million), Biyombo will split time at centre with Cody Zeller and Willy Hernangomez. This is not an ideal situation for any of the three, who cannot foreseeably make for any power forward/centre combinations. As the most expensive and (amazingly!) oldest of the three, as well as the most recent and lowest-priced acquisition, Biyombo is the odd man out, the player offered rather than targeted. Hernangomez, one of the few youthful bright sparks on the team, will need opportunities on the court, and while yet another extended injury absence from Zeller would ease the rotation crunch, Zeller also needs to get good game minutes himself in order to realise his potential and/or rebuild his value on his own sizeable contract. More importantly, given how much they are paying to not go anywhere (and considering how they have so little in the way of expiring salary), the Hornets need to save money. And so if Biyombo would take a buyout and stretch, a la Luol Deng, in order to save on luxury tax this year and open up just a slither of a chance of being able to keep Walker next year, the Hornets would surely listen. Biyombo would definitely get another contract elsewhere, making it viable if unlikely at this time.

The same uncertainty surrounds Parker, and indeed any player on the Hornets' roster. After the early move to remove Dwight Howard from the roster, the Hornets then did scant little else with their offseason other than sign Parker. They had more issues to address than the backup point guard situation; indeed, the starting point guard situation, and the future of Kemba Walker, is the biggest situation facing the team right now yet thus far remains unresolved. Should it become resolved via means of trade, which is very possible, so then may that of Parker, who would have no real purpose on a team out of contention and in need of both financial savings and roster spots with which to give late-season auditions to youngsters. A buyout of Parker could help with both of these.

Tony Parker
PG, 6’2, 185lbs, 35 years old, 16 years of experience

We are pretty near to the end by this point, especially in light of the serious injury he now has. But prior to that injury, Parker’s playoff performances showed that he still had something left in the chamber. Increasingly exploitable defensively, yielding a greater share of the ball to Leonard, and not being the spot-up threat off of his presence that would be ideal, Parker can nevertheless still get it done, with vintage performances, cuts to the rim, big shots, and cliché-but-true turn-back-the-clock performances. Now that he’s hurt, though, someone will have to take the starting point guard spot for a while. And perhaps it is best that even when he is back to health, Parker backs that player up, to save those legs for yet more postseason performances.

Player Plan: One year and $15,453,126 remaining. Not the kind of player that commands salaries like that any more, but surely no one disputes that contract.