Much like many Minnesota Timberwolves fans showed a rooting interest in Karl-Anthony Towns and the New York Knicks during last season's playoffs, they will again do so with Naz Reid and the Charlotte Hornets. The beloved former Wolves player spent seven seasons with Minnesota before being dealt to Charlotte this offseason.
Now with the Hornets, Reid should get the first chance of his career to be a full-time starter. Just don’t expect the soon-to-be 27-year-old’s production to increase significantly with the promotion.
Reid finally looks as if he will be a full-time starter
Once the Hornets traded Miles Bridges to the Phoenix Suns, it seemingly assured Reid that he would be Charlotte’s starting power forward this season. I’m just not sure Reid will receive many more minutes than he previously did with Minnesota.
The 2023-24 Sixth Man of the Year, Reid averaged 25.9 minutes per contest over the last three years, with a career high of 27.5 coming in 2024-25. He was playing more than half the game in Minnesota even while coming off the bench. In that three-season stretch, Reid posted averages of 13.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, and just shy of a block per game.
There are also a lot of bigs on Charlotte’s roster, making it difficult to see Reid’s playing time increase all that much from what it was to end his tenure with the Timberwolves.
Reid will probably spend less time at center in Charlotte, given that the Hornets’ roster includes centers Moussa Diabate, 2026 first-round pick Hannes Steinbach, and 2025 second-round pick Ryan Kalkbrenner. Charlotte also has Royce O’Neale, Grant Williams, and perhaps Dorian Finney-Smith, who can play minutes at the four.
Among the starters, Reid will share the floor with Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel, two young, ascending players who can regularly score 20 or more points. Coby White is more of a score-first point guard. On some nights, Reid may be the fourth option among the starters.
It will be fun watching Reid start games on a regular basis. For a brief while, it looked like that would finally be the case with the Timberwolves. The team traded Julius Randle to the Brooklyn Nets, but soon after, Reid was traded to the Hornets to bring LaMelo Ball to the Wolves.
On January 29, Minnesota fans will give Reid a roaring ovation when the Hornets come to the Target Center. Maybe for that game, Reid will increase his production and receive more touches on offense, but overall, his numbers should be close to what they have been in recent years.
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