Courtney Lee Explains Why He Didn't Re-Sign With the Charlotte Hornets
Apparently, Courtney Lee didn’t like the way the Charlotte Hornets treated him in free agency this past summer and he explained why he didn’t re-sign.
According to the New York Post, “Courtney Lee said the Hornets were too obsessed with re-signing Nicolas Batum to focus enough on his free agency.” After being traded to the Charlotte Hornets near the trade deadline last season, Lee played out the year in the Queen City before hitting the open market in the summer. He ended up signing with the New York Knucks in the offseason and he now explains why he chose not to re-sign with Charlotte.
Courtney said, “I was in contact with a lot of them but I wasn’t their No. 1 priority, Batum was. They were meeting with him and other opportunities knocked on my door for me and my family.’’ (NYpost.com) From the get-go, it was clear that Nic was the Hornets’ clear-cut number one priority in free agency. Everyone knew that they would go hard after him and that the other free agents the team had would have to wait until his decision was made and the contract was finalized.
Apparently, Lee didn’t want to wait. And that isn’t a knock on Courtney. It wasn’t guaranteed that Charlotte even wanted him back in the first place. He was an unrestricted free agent, free to sign with any team in the NBA. New York offered him a four-year, $50 million deal, which is probably more that the Hornets would’ve been willing to offer. Charlotte went hard after Batum and got their man. Unfortunately for Lee, he wasn’t the team’s main target.
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In fairness, the move worked out for both sides. Lee got the starting role and big money contract he was seeking and the Hornets moved on and made their own moves in free agency. Courtney probably wouldn’t have been a starter for Steve Clifford’s side this year and with the players Charlotte signed in the summer, there wasn’t enough money to bring him back.
It turns out that the 31-year old shooting guard has more than just one suitor vying for his signature. The New York Post article states that “the Sixers gave Lee a stronger offer, but Joakim Noah, as reported by The Post, convinced him to join the Knicks.” An even more interesting detail noted in the article is when Courtney said “he would give Charlotte’s “secrets’’ to the coaching staff.”
Courtney Lee had a short stint in Charlotte, playing in only 28 games, but he did make an impact while on the team. He helped the Hornets push towards a 48-win season and battle the Miami Heat to seven games in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs. The 6’5 guard even knocked down a memorable game-winning three in Game 5.
During his time with the Charlotte Hornets, Lee averaged 8.9 points per game, 3.1 rebounds per game, and 2.1 assists per game. While Courtney did have a solid run with the team, it was clear that he was just a band-aid until Michael Kidd-Gilchrist returned this season. Hopefully, there were no hard feelings about how things were handled in free agency because both sides seem to have benefited from the decisions that were made.
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