Former Kentucky hoops guard waived by Charlotte Hornets
By Jacob Moss
Published:
The NBA season is still over a month away from officially tipping off, but teams across the league are already making moves to trim their rosters before opening night.
This means a number of players will unfortunately be on the chopping block in the coming weeks as front offices make roster cuts to meet the NBA’s 15-player active roster limit.
Former Kentucky standout and top-10 draft pick Rob Dillingham suffered this fate on Monday evening when NBA insider Shams Charania reported that the Charlotte Hornets had officially waived him.
A 5-star recruit coming out of high school back in 2023, Dillingham committed to Kentucky and then head coach John Calipari over NC State, Louisville, and Auburn. He spent one season in Lexington, averaging 15.2 points, 3.2 assists, and 2.9 rebounds per game, and took home the SEC Sixth Man of the Year award while also earning second-team All-SEC honors.
That was enough to get Dillingham drafted 8th overall by the San Antonio Spurs, who immediately traded him to Minnesota. He spent a season and a half with the Timberwolves before being traded to Chicago at the 2026 trade deadline, and Charlotte acquired Dillingham from the Bulls over the weekend in a trade that sent Buddy Hield up north.
It looks like keeping Dillingham in the fold long term was never in the Hornets’ plans, and now the 21-year-old will be on the hunt for yet another team before the 2026-27 season begins.
