Charlotte Hornets

Will Charlotte Hornets have a hard time re-signing Nicolas Batum?

Published Aug. 6, 2015 12:41 p.m. ET

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Early this summer, the Charlotte Hornets traded Gerald Henderson and Noah Vonleh (a lottery pick in last year's draft who's still not even 20 years old) to the Portland Trail Blazers for Nicolas Batum.

On paper, that's not a terrible trade for a Hornets team that badly wants to make the postseason next year. But dig deeper and it may really hurt the organization down the road.

Batum will be an unrestricted free agent next summer, meaning he can sign with any team he wants. He'll be 27 years old, thick in the middle of his prime; teams will throw tons of money in his direction.

If he leaves, and Vonleh develops into a solid-to-above-average rotation player over the next decade, then, obviously, the Hornets will look back on that deal and wish it never happened. But is there reason to believe Batum will leave?

A couple weeks ago, Grantland's Zach Lowe reported that Batum had some interest in going to the Toronto Raptors, which makes sense. Enough to inspire this column from Rant Sports contributor Kareem Gantt:

"There are several reasons why Batum would entertain his impending free agency next season, but the big reason is dollars. With the new television contract now in place, the cap space is going to implode, which means players like Batum are going to be in for a big payday in 2016. And let’s be honest, for a person like Batum, it would make more sense for him to make his fortune playing in an international city like Toronto than playing in Charlotte, which is on the rise but not quite on the same level as Toronto."

For what it's worth, Batum denied this report on Twitter:

And again right here:

A ton can change in a year. If the Hornets have a bad season and don't make the playoffs, Batum will probably bounce. If Frank Kaminsky looks like the second coming of Dirk Nowitzki, and Charlotte wins a playoff series, Batum might decide to stick around.

The truth is, not even he knows what he's going to do next July. The NBA tide turns too fast.

(h/t: Rant Sports)