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The next time you blink, Luke Ridnour will play for a new team.
Ridnour continued his whirlwind non-tour of the league on Thursday, as the Charlotte Hornets continue to make moves ahead of the NBA draft, according to a report from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
The Hornets will send Ridnour and a 2016 second-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Jeremy Lamb. The second-round pick is likely the Hornets' own, as the one the San Antonio Spurs owe them is an unattractive, top-55 protected pick.
The Hornets just acquired Ridnour earlier Thursday, sending Matt Barnes to the Memphis Grizzlies in an exchange that freed them of the $1-million guarantee on Barnes' deal. The Grizzlies had Ridnour in hand after acquiring his non-guaranteed deal from the Orlando Magic for the draft rights to Janis Timma on Wednesday.
The Hornets had Barnes in hand thanks to the Lance Stephenson trade, which also saw them land Spencer Hawes. On Wednesday, the Hornets acquired Nicolas Batum from the Portland Trail Blazers for Noah Vonleh and Gerald Henderson, and Lamb stands as yet another wing addition to a team that desperately needed an infusion of talent there.
Lamb's a nice gamble for Charlotte, which hasn't given up much value here. The Thunder needed to clear a roster spot, and sending out Lamb serves to get a shade more than $3 million off the books for 2015-16. The No. 12 pick in 2012, acquired as part of the package for James Harden, Lamb has disappointed. He's averaged seven points and 2.1 rebounds in 15.7 minutes over three seasons while knocking down 34.8 percent of his threes.
With one year left on his rookie deal, the Hornets will get a closer look at Lamb and see if they can get more out of him on both ends than Oklahoma City.
The Thunder will almost certainly waive Ridnour to free themselves of his non-guaranteed $2.75-million salary for next year, and the 34-year-old will be free to land with his fourth team of the offseason. Ridnour has averaged 9.3 points and 4.5 assists over 830 career games. He remained moderately effective as a veteran leader for Orlando in 2014-15, averaging four points and two assists in 47 games off the bench.
