By R.L. Bynum
Coby White is coming home to North Carolina.
According to multiple reports on Wednesday afternoon, first from ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Chicago Bulls have traded White and Mike Conley Jr. to the Charlotte Hornets for Collin Sexton, Ousmane Dieng and three second-round draft picks.
White is a Goldsboro native who had one sensational season at North Carolina, becoming the 12th former UNC player to play for an NBA team in Charlotte.
With White in the final year of a three-year, $36 million rookie extension, he had been the subject of trade rumors for weeks heading into Thursday’s trade deadline.
The Bulls, who made White the seventh overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft, faced mounting pressure to decide whether he was a long‑term core piece or a valuable trade asset in a retooling timeline. Chicago’s front office ultimately opted for flexibility, adding a scoring guard in Sexton, a young developmental piece in Dieng, and draft picks.
White, who was the longest tenured Bulls player, averaged 18.6 points in 29 games for the Bulls this season, scoring 21 points in Sunday night’s 131–115 loss at Milwaukee. He is shooting a career-low 34.6% from 3-point range (previous low 35.4% in his rookie season), and his 80.5% free-throw shooting is his lowest since his rookie season (79.1%).
For Charlotte, the move signals an aggressive push to reset its backcourt identity. The Hornets’ starting backcourt pairing now is point guard LaMelo Ball and former Duke star Kon Kneuppel.
The Hornets (23–28) have won their last seven games and are one game back of Chicago for the final play-in spot. Charlotte plays at Houston at 8 p.m. Thursday and at Atlanta at 7:30 Saturday. White will face his former team in Chicago on Feb. 24.
Returning to North Carolina adds an emotional layer to the transaction. Few players in the state’s recent basketball history have connected with fans the way White did at Carolina in the 2018–19 season, when he averaged 16.1 points and 4.1 assists per game while shooting 42.3% from the floor and 35.3% from 3-point range.
White missed the entire preseason and the first 11 games of the regular season after suffering a calf strain in August. He has periodically sat out games for “injury management.”
The former Tar Heels with the longest tenures in Charlotte were Marvin Williams, who played there for six seasons from 2014 to 2020, and J.R. Reid (original Charlotte Hornets; 1989–92, 1997–99). Raymond Felton played for the Charlotte Bobcats for five seasons from 2005 to 2010. The Charlotte Bobcats drafted UNC assistant coach Sean May in the first round of the 2005 draft, and he played three seasons there.
White will be the first UNC alum to play for Charlotte since Leaky Black in the 2023–24 season. UNC assistant coach Marcus Paige played five games for the Hornets in the 2017–18 season and Tyler Hansbrough played 44 games in Charlotte in the 2015–16 season.
Others who have played for Charlotte teams are P.J. Hairston (2014–16), Brendan Haywood (Bobcats; 2012–14), Jeff McInnis (Bobcats; 2007–08) and Joe Wolf (original Charlotte Hornets; 1994–95, 1999).
Photo via @chicagobulls
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