The New York Knicks had interest in trading for Terry Rozier before the 2020 trade deadline.

The Knicks had support internally for a deal that would have sent Julius Randle, Dennis Smith Jr. and a future first round pick to the Charlotte Hornets for Rozier and Malik Monk.

It is not known how close a deal came to being executed.

The Knicks also had interest in trading for D'Angelo Russell.

Both Rozier and Russell were free agents last offseason.

Charlotte Hornets ownership and players established a fund to help financially support more than 500 part-time employees.

The fund will help compensate lost wages from suspended NBA and G League games.

Sources told Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports that players partnered with the team to avoid the optics of competing with each other and self-promotion. 

The Hornets joined several other teams in creating a fund to provide assistance to its part-time staff.

Nicolas Batum signed a five-year, $120 million contract with the Charlotte Hornets in 2016, but he's dealt with injury and production issues that has made the deal one of the worst in the NBA. Batum will be on an expiring contract in 20-21.

“This franchise has got a bright future,” Batum said, “but I don’t think I’ll be part of it.”

Batum hasn't played for 15 consecutive games as the Hornets have allocated his minutes to younger players.

“I apologize to the people here,” Batum said, “because they put so much faith in me. And it didn’t go well…. It didn’t work out. But what do I have to do? Because I’m still here.”

Batum has been trying to boost his teammates with a positive attitude. 

Batum said he’s not “mad” about the situation he finds himself in, but allowed that he is “frustrated.”

“I don’t want to be an a--hole,” Batum told the Observer. “I don’t want to be selfish … I don’t want to be that guy who’s like, ‘OK, let’s go out tonight. Coach sucks. Don’t show up. You shoot 25 times a game; don’t listen to him.’ No. I won’t do that. I don’t need that. They don’t need that.”

The Charlotte Hornets have signed guard Joe Chealey to a second 10-day contract. Chealey signed his first 10-day contract with the Hornets on February 21.

Undrafted in the 2018 NBA Draft, Chealey signed with the Charlotte Hornets and was converted to a two-way contract on Oct. 13, 2018. After becoming a free agent on July 1, 2019, Chealey returned to the Hornets but was later waived on Oct. 13. He has spent the 2019-20 season with the Greensboro Swarm of the NBA G League.

The 6-3 guard has appeared in two games with the Hornets and has made 34 appearances with the Swarm this season. Chealey is averaging 11.3 points, 4.5 assists, and 3.2 rebounds in 28.3 minutes per game in the G League. In the 2018-19 season, he appeared in 43 games with Greensboro averaging 16.3 points, 5.4 assists and 3.6 rebounds in 31.3 minutes while on a two-way contract with the Hornets.