Naz Reid landing spots: Four NBA contenders that make sense if Hornets look to move sharp-shooting big man

After being included in the LaMelo Ball trade, the early part of Reid's tenure in Charlotte has been a bit bumpy Nov 12, 2026 at 5:34 pm ET • 8 min read You could argue that before this season, there was not a single role player in the NBA more beloved by his own fanbase than Naz Reid. Simply uttering his name, devoid of context, became a popular meme among the Minnesota Timberwolves faithful in recent years, and for good reason. The former undrafted free agent grew into a Sixth Man of the Year winner and one of the best shooting bigs in basketball during his seven-year run with the Timberwolves. Leaving the only team he had ever known this offseason has proven difficult thus far.Reid, 27, is posting big raw numbers in his first season as a full-time starter with the Charlotte Hornets, but there are bigger concerns under the surface. After shooting just under 57% on 2-pointers in Minnesota, he is at around 44% with the Hornets and struggling to score efficiently near the basket. His defense has raised eyebrows as well, and after he was benched in an early game against the Detroit Pistons, Hornets coach Charles Lee said that Reid "didn't meet our standards in the first half, and at halftime we made the decision that he wouldn't play in the second half." Reid, along with an unprotected 2033 first-round pick, was one of the centerpieces of Charlotte's return in trading star guard LaMelo Ball to Minnesota. The 4-7 Hornets have struggled mightily without Ball, posting the NBA's worst offensive rating this season despite having the league's best offense from early December forward last season. Injuries have played a big part in those struggles, but at this stage, Reid's role as a foundational Hornets player moving forward is already coming into question. Timberwolves beat writer Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic even said on his podcast that the chances of Reid getting traded again are "very high." "The Hornets now are clearly in a period of transition, and they decided that LaMelo Ball was not going to be a part of the team that they believe can eventually get to real contender status," Krawczynski explained. "They made a decision with that core group that they were not good enough as constructed and so they had to take a step back, amass some assets and go forward. And what that also means is that, A, the fans are going to be upset because they finally had a fun season last year and now it is going sideways again, but B, the possibilities of Naz Reid getting traded again are very high. This is a roster that I think is going to change over quite a bit over the next couple of years as the Hornets look for the right combination of people to really vault into what they hope is contention."Krawczynski did not specify a timetable, and we've certainly seen frustrating starts turn into fruitful long-term partnerships, but all of this underlines just how difficult things have been for Reid and the Hornets so far this season. Charlotte knew what it was doing by trading Ball. The idea was to take a step back now to take a bigger step forward later. If that's still the idea here, there should be plenty of teams with real interest in Reid, so let's identify a few possible landing spots for the sweet-shooting big man. Golden State WarriorsThe Warriors traded for and eventually re-signed Kristaps Porziņģis because they need big men who can shoot in a lineup featuring both Draymond Green and, presumably, Jimmy Butler eventually. Al Horford can cover some of those minutes, but he's 40 and can only be expected to play so much. Fortunately, Green's ability to defend across the positional spectrum means the Warriors don't necessarily need their center-sized shooter to actually defend centers. If he's big, he rebounds and he shoots, he'll fit. This is Reid to a T. With Green on the team to actually guard the most dangerous centers and the combination of Butler and Yaxel Lendeborg providing size on the wing, the Warriors are fairly well-equipped to minimize Reid's weaknesses. His strengths are exactly what the Warriors need; the not-currently-getting-paid Porziņģis takes Golden State most of the way there when it comes to salary matching (with only a smaller salary like Gui Santos or De'Anthony Melton needed to close the hard cap gap), and the Warriors control almost all of their own future draft capital, so they have the ammunition they'd need to satisfy the Hornets.The big question here -- especially with Stephen Curry now set to miss around a month with an oblique abdominal tear -- is how eager the Warriors are to invest in their present. Before the season, the answer should have been a resounding "not at all." But Curry was playing like an MVP candidate before he got hurt, and the emergence of Lendeborg as the Rookie of the Year favorite has arguably changed the equation. While the Warriors (8-4) may not be able to justify an all-in trade, giving up, say, one unprotected pick to nab the 27-year-old Reid, who can be a part of their post-Curry future as well as their present, might be a satisfactory compromise. Detroit PistonsThe Pistons have reportedly had an eye on Reid ever since his anticipated 2025 free agency, but he wound up re-signing with Minnesota before the opening bell even rang. The appeal is obvious. Two of Detroit's three best players, Ausar Thompson and Jalen Duren, are non-shooters. Having a big man who can shoot theoretically helps offset that deficit, particularly in lineups featuring just one of those two. Detroit tried that very strategy this offseason in acquiring John Collins. The results have been mixed, with the Pistons faring far better in the minutes Collins sits than the ones he plays. Reid is better and younger. The Pistons are enormously flexible in how they could construct a deal. They control all of their own first-round picks, and they have a fair bit of breathing room beneath the luxury tax. That breathing room evaporates next season, though, when Thompson's rookie extension kicks in. This is where the decision calculus gets harder. Duren and Cade Cunningham are already making market rate. Thompson will be next season, and Duncan Robinson has simply proven too indispensable to move on from. Paying all four of those players plus Reid would leave precious little flexibility to add the second ball-handler Detroit badly needs.Maybe the Pistons feel they're good enough as is to win without one, or they could be prepared to trade someone else out of their core down the line if they feel compelled to seek out that needed ball-handling addition. The Trajan Langdon-led front office is now in its third season at the helm, yet it has not traded a single first-round pick amid Detroit's ascent. The Pistons have been cautious with buy-now moves. Maybe Reid is the sort of player they'd splurge for, but considering how well the Pistons are playing, they will likely be cautious in shaking things up too much. Cleveland CavaliersCleveland's starting five simply hasn't worked this season. The Cavaliers are getting crushed with their five starters on the floor, and the Jarrett Allen-Evan Mobley duo, a frequent target of the rumor mill, is losing its minutes together by over five points per 100 possessions. That duo has never generated the elite rebounding that double-big lineups are supposed to create, and while they do a good job of defending shots at the rim, they give up so many of them that they net out as a fairly underwhelming rim defense. Peyton Watson is struggling to fit in as a small forward, but lineups featuring him and just one of Mobley or Allen are faring far better. Swapping one of the bigs out for Reid, essentially trading defense for shooting, recalibrates the team in ways that theoretically create a friendlier environment for Watson. The Hornets, still presumably looking for a long-term starter at center, would likely have some degree of interest in either Mobley or Allen. The question is which makes more sense in a trade like this.The answer is probably Allen. He's older. He's worse. He's more traditionally a center than Mobley, whom Cleveland has historically been reluctant to move up from power forward. But the on-off data is pretty clear this season: Cleveland is playing better with Allen on the floor than it is with Mobley. If the Cavaliers are going to go with a single big, it might behoove them to stick with the one they know can be a center. Mobley's 30% max contract is going to prove limiting down the line, especially with Donovan Mitchell starting a 35% supermax deal next season. Mobley would almost certainly net more in a trade than Allen would, and Charlotte has the pick surplus to make a pretty compelling offer if it wants to.If Mobley is available in any way, shape or form by February, offers will come in from several teams. Not many have a package that makes more immediate sense than one built around Reid and Charlotte's picks, which Cleveland could either keep or redirect for other assets. If Cleveland and Charlotte do engage on Reid talks, though, Allen is the far likelier Cavaliers big man to become a Hornet. Toronto RaptorsWe can't fully judge the Raptors until we see an extended stretch with a healthy Kawhi Leonard, but thus far, Toronto's shooting weakness elsewhere has been as severe as expected. The Raptors rank 24th in 3-point attempt rate and 27th in 3-point percentage as of this writing. Like Golden State, Toronto is perfectly equipped to cover for Reid's deficiencies as a rim protector. There isn't a better trio of defensive forwards in the NBA than Leonard, Scottie Barnes and Collin Murray-Boyles, and Murray-Boyles already plays a reasonable amount of center.The money would presumably be RJ Barrett's expiring contract. Losing his shot-creation would sting, but with a healthy Leonard, they should be covered in that respect. The question is draft compensation. The Raptors already gave up unprotected picks in 2031 and 2033 for Leonard, leaving their 2029 selection as their only tradable, unencumbered pick. They could move their 2027 pick as well, though it has swap rights attached to the Oklahoma City Thunder, limiting its appeal. A swap or two would probably be needed here to seal the deal, but Toronto probably has the chips to pull this off if it's motivated enough. Reid would eat up Toronto's room beneath the luxury tax line next season, but with all of their core players locked in, that shouldn't be much of an issue. The Raptors haven't started their tax clock yet, so a year or two above that line (and still well below the dreaded second apron) seems a small price to pay for a genuine championship contender.