What the 2worst NBA teams should do.

For one, they’re stocked just about everywhere else. They have high fliers, and the trio of Clint Capela (still injured), Dewayne Dedmon and John Collins satisfies their needs, even if the latter’s future is officially in question following the signing of Capela. Mostly, though, Atlanta just desperately needs a ball-handler, besides Trae Young. Forget without him. The Hawks can barely even function offensively with their All-Star sophomore running the show. They’re putting up 111.1 points per 100 possessions when he’s on floor, a mark good enough for the 53rd percentile.That offensive rating drops to 98.3 (2nd) whenever Young is on the bench. Roster construction is part of the problem. Atlanta needs more established offensive talent in general. But the minutes without Young have to get better either way. It almost doesn’t matter who the Hawks target. They have a clear path to almost $50 million cap space. They can prioritize signing or trading for another point guard who’s capable of playing in stride with Young (Fred VanVleet), or they’re free to chase a shot-creating guard like Bogdan Bogdanovic (restricted) or Gordon Hayward (player option).

Stacked with cap space for the first time in forever, the Charlotte Hornets are among the NBA’s biggest offseason wild cards. Cap space only increases the Hornets’ range of offseason outcomes. They’ll have more than $25 million to burn even if they land inside the top three of the draft lottery. That number climbs if they wind up with a lower pick or decide to stretch the final year of Nicolas Batum’s contract, worth $27.1 million, over the next three seasons. A shallow free-agent market protects the Hornets, on some level, against themselves. Finding a big-name to overpay figures to be almost impossible. They’ll have to go out of their way to do something blasphemous if both DeMar DeRozan (player option) and Andre Drummond (player option) decline the chance to hit the open market. Throwing the bag at Montrezl Harrell feels like a Hornets move and is definitely the wrong call. They need more of a defensive anchor or unicorn scorer in the frontcourt if they’re not married to Cody Zeller, who comes off the books after next year. It also behooves them to limit the time Miles Bridges and, to a lesser extent, PJ Washington log at the 3.