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Summary

Bacon has been a pleasant surprise for the Hornets after being drafted 40th overall in 2017, getting consistent rotational minutes and even starting 13 games in the '18-'19 season. Bacon shot 43% from three and 68% at the rim that season, both excellent numbers for a wing.

 

If Bacon can continue that level of efficiency on higher volume, he will a solid rotational wing for years to come. Bacon has the size to guard multiple positions on defense, despite being slightly undersized to guard some of the elite wings. Bacon will likely never be more than a role player that is asked to hit open shots and defend well, but those players are valuable in today's NBA and can get paid handsomely.

Cap Considerations

Bacon will be a restricted free agent with full Bird rights and a $2.0 million cap hold and Qualifying Offer. Having a low cap hold and full Bird rights could be beneficial for the Hornets, as they can keep his can hold on the books, use cap space to sign free agents, and then re-sign Bacon once they have used up all their cap space. If Bacon is brought back by the Hornets on a multi-year contract, they should frontload his contract as much as possible, especially since they could do so without losing any cap space.

 

Teams other than the Hornets will have multiple ways to sign Bacon, as even teams without cap space could possibly use any of the Non-Taxpayer, Taxpayer, Room Mid-Level Exceptions to sign him. However, Bacon being a restricted free agent will greatly lower his interest among teams, as they will worry that the only way to pry him away from Charlotte would be to significantly overpay him.

Potential Teams: Hornets, Celtics, Pelicans, Pacers, Pistons

Predicted Contract: 2-year, $5 million (2nd year player option) with the Hornets

Actual Contract: 2-year, $3.5 million (2nd year non-guaranteed) with the Magic.

It was probably a little bold of me to think Bacon could get more than the minimum, as he's really closer to a fringe NBA player than a rotation-level player, and he was only able to get one year guaranteed. 

Last updated: 12/31/2020

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