Hornets trade Nick Richards to Suns for Josh Okogie, picks

Roderick Boone, The Charlotte Observer on Jan 15, 2025

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Nick Richards won’t be coming back with the Charlotte Hornets when they return from their abbreviated three-game road trip.

The Hornets are sending Richards and a second-round pick to Phoenix for Josh Okogie and three second-round picks, league sources confirm to The Charlotte Observer on Wednesday. The Observer reported the mutual interest between the two teams while the Hornets were in Arizona on Sunday.

Richards had one of his best games of the season during the Hornets’ win over the Suns on Feb. 7, registering 15 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks.

Okogie, a shooting guard, is averaging six points and 2.9 rebounds in 25 games.

With the Hornets (8-29) floundering in the standings, moving Richards is likely the first of several transactions Jeff Peterson will pull off on his first full year as the team’s president of basketball operations.

NBA announces schedule adjustments

The Hornets have two trips to Los Angeles in their future.

An updated schedule was announced by the NBA on Wednesday, less than a week after Charlotte had its Jan. 9 and Jan. 11 games postponed because of the Southern California wildfires.

The Hornets will play the Lakers at 10 p.m. ET Feb. 19 and travel back to Los Angeles again on March 16 to match up with the Clippers in a 7 p.m. ET tipoff. Both games will be broadcast on FanDuel Sports Network Southeast.

Due to the compact nature of the Hornets’ remaining schedule, it was difficult to fit a pair of games in Los Angeles during the same trip. So, as The Observer previously noted, the most reasonable conclusion meant moving one to the final day of the All-Star break prior to the Hornets’ outing in Denver on Feb. 20.

That makeup date against the Lakers gives the Hornets a nine-game road trip wrapped around the All-Star break that also includes stops in Detroit, Brooklyn, Orlando, Portland, Sacramento, San Francisco and Dallas.