Shortly after striking a deal to trade guard LaMelo Ball to Minnesota, the Hornets have reached an agreement to bring back free agent guard Coby White, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, who reports (via Twitter) that White will sign a three-year, $74MM contract to remain in Charlotte.
Hornets president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson repeatedly indicated entering the offseason that retaining White was a top priority for the club this summer after acquiring him from Chicago at February’s trade deadline. Re-signing the former Bull became even more crucial in the wake of the Ball deal. As Charania observes, with Ball gone, White figures to take on a more significant role in his first full season as a Hornet.
The seventh overall pick in the 2019 draft, White spent the first six-and-a-half years of his NBA career in Chicago, where he developed into a dangerous offensive weapon. In his last full season with the Bulls in 2024/25, he averaged 20.4 points and 4.5 assists per game with a shooting line of .453/.370/.902.
His breakout performance with the Bulls made it impossible for the club to sign him to a contract extension before he reached free agency this offseason. Since he only earned $12.9MM in 2025/26, his maximum extension would have been worth $87MM over four years — he reportedly conveyed to Chicago prior to last season that he wouldn’t be signing an extension and would take his chances on earning a more lucrative payday in unrestricted free agency.
Following a mid-season trade to the Hornets, that bet has paid off for White, whose new $74MM deal will have a lower total value than his max extension, but will be worth nearly $25MM per year, comfortably above the $21.75MM annual average value he could’ve earned on an extension.
White averaged 15.6 PPG and 3.0 APG on .461/.391/.839 shooting in 21 appearances off the bench for Charlotte in the second half. His most memorable moment so far as a Hornet came in the team’s play-in victory over Miami, when he knocked down an improbable fadeaway three-pointer with 11 seconds left in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime (video link via NBA.com).
More to come…
