Trading Tyson Chandler May Actually Be a Smart Move

At first glance I was kind of surprised that the Hornets traded Tyson Chandler to the Thunder for Joe Smith and Chris Wilcox.

The Hornets may be underachieving this year, but are still a great team and have a bright future ahead of them.

However, Chandler is under-performing, he's making $10,950,000 this year, and his salary is set to go up next year and the year after.

By the numbers, the Hornets aren't really going to be losing much with the trade and if anything they will be adding more depth with the addition of veteran Joe Smith.

Here’s a break down of some key statistics.

Tyson Chandler 2008 statistics: 35.2 mpg, 11.8 rpg, 11.7

Tyson Chandler 2009 statistics: 31.1 mpg, 8.8 ppg, 8.3 rpg,

Chris Wilcox 2009 statistics: 19.4 mpg, 8.4 ppg, 5.3

Wilcox, in more than ten less minutes a game, is averaging almost as many points and three less rebounds than Chandler.

Also, the Hornets depth has really been hurting them this year and Joe Smith is a very underrated player.

If given the minutes and the ball, Smith can be a force on offense. At times last year when he was starting for the Bulls, he was arguably their best player.

There was a 10-game stretch last year when he was averaging 16.7 points and 7.3 rebounds, while shooting 51.4 percent.

Even if you think that the Hornets are going to miss Chandler, you can’t deny that he was getting overpaid. By trading for two players who have expiring contracts, the Hornets will be able to free up space under the salary cap.

"With this transaction, we accomplished some other objectives as well and were able to put ourselves in a position to have greater flexibility down the road, and to be in a situation where we have flexibility financially," Hornets GM Jeff Bower said. "But it was driven first by the decision that we need to get better, we need to improve."