The Hornets waived Pat Connaughton on October 16, 2026, ending his latest stint with Charlotte as the team moved to cut its roster from 16 players to 15 before the season. Connaughton, 33, was the only player on a standard contract whose salary was non-guaranteed.
That made him the clearest place for Charlotte to make room. The move came after Connaughton appeared in two preseason games for the Hornets this fall, averaging 1.0 points, 1.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 10.7 minutes per game.
Connaughton’s path to this point has stretched across 11 seasons. He was the 41st overall pick in the 2015 draft, spent three years in Portland to open his NBA career and signed with Milwaukee in the 2018 offseason, where he became a rotation regular and helped the Bucks win their first championship in 50 years in 2021.
Charlotte had already shown it valued him. The team re-signed Connaughton in February to a two-year, veteran’s minimum contract after initially waiving him ahead of the trade deadline, and he had been seen as a locker room leader even as his on-court role stayed limited. He averaged 7.1 minutes per game in 42 appearances in his first season in Charlotte, a modest return for a veteran with 637 regular season games, 72 starts and career averages of 5.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists.
That is what makes the waiver notable: the Hornets had kept him through part of the year, then still chose him when they had to shave the roster to the standard 15. Milwaukee had attached a couple of second-round picks to shed his salary in the 2025 offseason, and Charlotte’s decision now leaves him free to land elsewhere if another team wants a 6’5" veteran with playoff experience and a bench résumé. What happens next is whether another club uses that opening before the season begins.
