Kelly Oubre Jr. is headed for free agency this summer, and Charlotte has reason to look again at a player it once let walk away. The 30-year-old wing is in the middle of an 11th NBA season, and a return to the Hornets would come after two seasons in Charlotte from 2021 to 2023.
Oubre has spent this season with the Philadelphia 76ers, appearing in 50 games and averaging 14.1 points on 46.7% shooting. He has added 5.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.5 blocks in 31.5 minutes per game, while shooting a career-best 36% from three. That is a step down from 2022-23, when he averaged over 20 points per game for the Hornets, but it still shows the kind of two-way production that can matter when a team is trying to tighten the margins.
Charlotte has already had the chance to evaluate Oubre once. The Hornets did not re-sign him after he previously left, at a time when the team was deep in a youth-focused rebuild and had a crowded wing rotation after drafting Brandon Miller. That context has changed. The franchise's competitive window is starting to open, and Oubre's scoring punch, defensive versatility and veteran presence could make him an ideal wing addition this offseason. A recent report on his return to the 76ers as free agency looms underscored that he still has the kind of profile teams will weigh carefully when the market opens.
The question for Charlotte is no longer whether Oubre can help. It is whether the Hornets want to revisit a player they once viewed as replaceable now that their plans are moving in a different direction.