The Sacramento Kings have traded guard Marco Belinelli to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for the No. 22 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, according to The Vertical's Adrian Wojnarowski. The deal won't be made official until July, so Sacramento will make the selection for the Hornets on Thursday.
Belinelli, 30, signed with the Kings last summer but could have been seen as expendable if they are trying to become a better defensive team. He gives the Hornets some more shooting and is valuable to them simply because he is a cost-controlled role player -- he is owed $13 million for the next two years. Charlotte is in danger of losing numerous free agents this summer: Nicolas Batum, Al Jefferson, Marvin Williams, Jeremy Lin and Courtney Lee are all on the market.
Sacramento did well to get a first-round pick for Belinelli, who is coming off the worst season of his career. It is unclear if general manager Vlade Divac will be able to find a gem at that spot in the draft, but Belinelli did not have much of a future with the team anyway.
