Jeff Peterson Talks Hornets' Trade Deadline
Peterson addressed the moves Charlotte made ahead of the Thursday deadline.
CHARLOTTE — The 2026 NBA trade deadline has come and passed, and quite a bit has changed for the Charlotte Hornets. While the main core remains intact, the front office made several moves around the edges that should help this group continue to trend upward.
Hornets General Manager Jeff Peterson was on hand at Spectrum Center on Thursday to give his comments following the official deadline at 3:00 PM Eastern Time.
Much of Peterson’s availability centered on balance: maintaining flexibility without forcing urgency, and allowing the current group to keep revealing itself rather than reacting to short-term momentum. This was evident immediately when he was asked about the Hornets’ open roster spot after waiving Mike Conley.
“Yeah, I think right now it’s nice to have the flexibility,” Peterson said. “We’ll see what happens. I don’t have my phone with me right now, but I’m sure some other people just got waived, too. So, we’ll have to kind of assess everything, but being able to have flexibility is always a good thing.”
Peterson framed this final open roster spot as an advantage, something that will keep Charlotte’s options open as the league continues to shift in the days following the deadline. That same philosophy extended to how the front office viewed the deadline more broadly, particularly when it came to preserving draft capital.
“Over the next seven drafts we have 11 first-round picks, we have 15 second-round picks,” Peterson said. “Being able to continue to stockpile those draft picks is always something that myself and our front office, it’s been a goal of ours. So we’ll continue to add them, and when we have moments like this, when we see a player that we think is worth it or worth the price, we’ll continue to try to use those picks to go get them.”
The Hornets’ recent seven-game winning streak naturally raised questions about whether now might be the time to cash in on some of that flexibility and make a big, aggressive move. Peterson acknowledged how encouraging the winning has been, while also stressing that short-term success alone was not going to dictate long-term decisions.
“We’ll know when the time is right,” Peterson said. “There’s a lot of nuances that go into it. Which players are available, contract length, there’s different dynamics that go into all that. But I promise you, we will know when the time is right.”
He credited the players and Charles Lee’s coaching staff for the recent run, calling it “beautiful to watch,” but made it clear that the organization is still in something of an evaluation phase.
“All of this has just continued to add to the sample size that we need,” Peterson said. “Of course we can’t make any moves now, but in the summer we’ll figure out exactly what this team is, and what else we need to do to continue to take the next step.”
Peterson later expanded on that idea, noting how easy it can be to overreact in either direction without proper discipline.
“I wouldn’t say it changed much,” he said of the streak’s impact on his deadline approach. “I’ve also been on the other side where you have a recent run the other way, and you overreact. And then you may sell your players off too soon, and I think that’s something that you want to try to avoid too.”
Instead, Peterson emphasized realism and perspective, both within the Eastern Conference and across the league as a whole.
“At all times you want to try to be as disciplined as you can, be realistic of where you are, not just in the conference but in the entire league,” he said. “But again, these guys, I just love the way they’re competing night in and night out.”
His disciplined approach showed up most clearly in how the Hornets handled interest in their core. Peterson confirmed that calls came in on all of Charlotte’s foundational pieces, yet the front office chose continuity while still finding a way to improve the roster by acquiring Coby White.
“Look, I got calls on every piece of the core, quite frankly,” Peterson said. “But this group, they earned the right to see it through.”
He pointed to more than just the recent streak as justification for that trust.
“Not just these past seven or eight games, but even a little bit before Christmas,” Peterson said. “The continuity, the fact that we’ve been pretty healthy, has helped everyone see exactly what this group can be. So this group has earned the right to see what it looks like the rest of the season into the postseason. I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that.”
At the same time, Peterson felt the move to add White fit naturally within that philosophy.
“Being able to add a talent like [Coby White] to help continue to bolster the talent, I think that was something that we felt really good about,” he said.
Making that addition required parting with Collin Sexton, a player who quickly became synonymous with the Hornets’ identity and competitive nature during his time in Charlotte. Peterson took time to acknowledge Sexton’s impact and the difficulty of making that decision.
“Collin, I want to thank him for everything that he did in this very short amount of time,” Peterson said. “He is every bit of the reason that we’re in the position that we’re in right now.”
Peterson praised Sexton’s nightly intensity, shot-making, and ability to put pressure on defenses, while also reinforcing the responsibility that comes with the job.
“At the end of the day, it’s my responsibility to do ultimately what I think is best for the franchise,” he said. “And I just saw that this move could be something that helps set us up going forward into the future.”
Altogether, Peterson’s comments reflected a front office intent on resisting shortcuts. The Hornets are not defining themselves by one winning streak, nor are they ignoring what that stretch has revealed.
Instead, they’re allowing the season to continue clarifying who this group is, protecting their flexibility along the way, and positioning themselves to act decisively when timing and opportunity truly align. All things considered, this was a very measured and productive trade deadline in Charlotte.