Hornets waive Gastonia local Isaiah Whaley

CHARLOTTE — A former basketball star from Gastonia was waived by the Charlotte Hornets this week.

Mitch Kupchak, President of Basketball Operations and General Manager for the Charlotte Hornets, announced that forward Isaiah Whaley was waived from the team on Thursday.

Whaley, who played for the Evelyn Mack Academy, went to UCONN and earned Big East Defensive Player of the Year during his senior year. He originally signed with the Hornets as a free agent on September 12, under an Exhibit 10 contract.

An Exhibit 10 contract is a one-year, non-guaranteed, minimum salary deal, introduced to the NBA in 2017. This type of contract normally allows up to a $50,000 bonus when a player is waived by the team. NBA teams are only allowed to have six players with Exhibition 10 contracts on their team at one time.

Whaley was added to the Hornets’ NBA 2K23 Summer League roster, but did not play. He played in one preseason game for the Charlotte team and got one rebound during four minutes of playtime.

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