Hornets’ Jeff Peterson After Trading For Josh Okogie: ‘We’re Listening To Everything’

The Hornets acquired forward Josh Okogie in a trade with the Suns on Wednesday and they may not be done.

At least, not if you listen to president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson, who sent center Nick Richards to Phoenix as part of the deal.

“We’ve received calls on multiple of our players,” Peterson told reporters, via Roderick Boone of the Charlotte Observer. “Nick Richards, we received multiple calls on him. We have good players. I think some of the injuries from a synergy standpoint have made it really tough to jell and see what this group can do.

“But, yeah, I think at this point, look, we are going to listen to everything. We are not going to do anything to compromise the future, but we are going to do what’s best for the organization that we see going forward in order to be sustainable going forward.”

Along with Okogie, the Hornets (8-28) received second-round picks from the Nuggets in 2026 and 2031, as well as a second-round pick from Phoenix in 2031. The Hornets are sending the less favorable of a 2025 second-rounder from either the Nuggets or 76ers to the Suns.

Acquiring Okogie is just the first step of Peterson’s plan to build something sustainable.

“As I’ve said when I first got here, we are not going to take shortcuts,” Peterson said. “If you are really going to build a sustainable contender, you can’t do something short-sighted that’s going to compromise your future. So, we won’t do that Everything that we do is going to be building toward that goal.

“I have zero interest in making the playoffs for one year, and then being out for the next four or five, and then in for two and out again after that. So, we want to again build something that has sustainability to it.

“At the same time, we’ve got to continue to take advantage of deals like this that’s adding picks to our treasure chest, if you will, or whatever it may be for us to have that optionality.”

Okogie, 26, is 6-foot-4 and plays both the small forward and shooting guard spots. He’s averaging 6.0 points and 2.9 rebounds in 25 games this season. His contract calls for him to earn $8.5 million this season. It then can be used to come mostly off the books — as $7.7 million for 2025-26 isn’t guaranteed until June 30.

“(Coach Charles Lee) and I have had a ton of conversations about the type of humans and players we want to bring into this organization,” Peterson said, “and Josh fits that bill in terms of he competes every night, he’s going to give you exactly what he has on a nightly basis.

“It doesn’t matter if you are playing in Utah or Phoenix, whatever the night may be.

“He’s having a career year shooting the basketball this year. It speaks to his work ethic and amount of time he puts into the gym. So he’s physical, he’s a great defender. We are just excited to get him into the organization.”