{"id":56527,"date":"2023-10-11T19:20:01","date_gmt":"2023-10-11T23:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=56527"},"modified":"2023-10-11T19:21:18","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T23:21:18","slug":"nba-news-charlotte-hornets-waive-kai-jones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/10\/11\/nba-news-charlotte-hornets-waive-kai-jones\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA News: Charlotte Hornets Waive Kai Jones"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Following <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/09\/29\/nba-rumors-will-kai-jones-remain-a-charlotte-hornet\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">recent concerning social media activity<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the Charlotte Hornets have waived center <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/joneska01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Kai Jones<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Charlotte Hornets have waived former first-round pick Kai Jones, sources tell <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheAthletic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TheAthletic<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Stadium?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@Stadium<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/53L73V4H49\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/53L73V4H49<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1712209821049421977?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 11, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><b>NBA News: Charlotte Hornets Waive Kai Jones<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3><b>Background<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After two years at Texas, Jones was taken 19th overall by the New York Knicks\u2014then traded to the Hornets\u2014in the 2021 Draft. He split his time between the Hornets and their G League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm. Over two seasons with the Swarm, Jones put up 17.2 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.1 blocks, and 1.2 steals per game. He also shot 66% from the field, 30% from distance and 68% from the free-throw line.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recently, Jones appeared in five games for the Hornets\u2019 Summer League team. He averaged 7.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.2 steals and 1.2 blocks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jones is known as an athletic two-way big, and his <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/rW-nQucF-Oc?si=gKUH05Ep79AXKcV4\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">highlights<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> speak for themselves. However, once touted as an exciting, promising center, recent controversy landed the 22-year-old in hot water with the Hornets.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Jones Waived After Public Trade Request<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After a series of social media posts that ranged from disparaging teammates to claiming he\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marca.com\/en\/basketball\/nba\/charlotte-hornets\/2023\/09\/15\/65042342e2704e5d368b45c0.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">better than<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>LeBron James<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/o\/onealsh01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Shaquille O\u2019Neal<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the Hornets made Jones step away from the team on Sept. 30. They offered limited statements on the matter, but head coach Steve Clifford noted it had \u201cbeen handled internally.\u201d The situation reached its apex when Jones requested a trade through social media.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/242_jones\/status\/1711463763453378954<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to NBA rules, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/fadeawayworld.net\/nba-players-can-be-fined-up-to-150000-if-they-publicy-express-a-desire-to-be-traded-according-to-new-cba-rules\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a player may be fined up to $150,000<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> if they \u201cpublicly express a desire to be traded.\u201d While no punishment has been made for Jones\u2019s actions, it may not be long before he has to face those consequences.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jones has since responded to the news, taking the high road:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I used to pray for times like dis <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/GOATLIFE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#GOATLIFE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Kai Jones (@242_jones) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/242_jones\/status\/1712215100126343616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 11, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3><b>What\u2019s Next for Kai Jones?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the Hornets can move on from Jones and his behavior, Jones doesn\u2019t have a clear or easy route back to the league. Training camp rosters are filled up with opening night only a couple of weeks away. There\u2019s a chance he could rejoin the G League, as their training camps begin Oct. 30 with an opening night of Dec. 27.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At 22 with high-flying talent, Jones still has the potential to have a long basketball career. However, he must first prove that he can be a true team player with limited distractions.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following recent concerning social media activity, the Charlotte Hornets have waived center Kai Jones. The Charlotte Hornets have waived former first-round pick Kai Jones, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. pic.twitter.com\/53L73V4H49 &mdash; Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 11, 2023 NBA News: Charlotte Hornets Waive Kai Jones Background After two years at Texas, Jones was taken 19th overall by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":56529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,7,62,3],"tags":[4278,453],"class_list":["post-56527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-hornets","category-nba","category-news","tag-kai-jones","tag-steve-clifford"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}