Hornets Enter Offseason on Good Footing Despite Play-in Whiplash

What a year it was for the Charlotte Hornets … and what an ending. Last week saw the team win its first play-in game in the most dramatic fashion possible, beating the Miami Heat in overtime at a sold-out Spectrum Center in one of the most exciting finishes the franchise has ever seen. 

Then, three days later, all that momentum fell flat. Forced to travel to Orlando to play the team that lost its first-round game of the play-in, the Hornets played arguably their worst game of the season. The playoff drought that has lasted since 2016 will now stretch beyond a decade, and the team’s front office is left to pick up the pieces.  

I won’t go through the pain of recapping the disaster in Orlando last Friday, but I will point out that the game underlined the Hornets’ difficulty playing against physical opponents — an issue that will be critical to address in the coming offseason.

Charlotte finished the season 44-38, a 25-game improvement over their 19-63 record in the 2024-25 season, an objectively positive takeaway despite continuing the longest current playoff drought in the NBA with Friday’s loss. 

Health played a large role in the Hornets’ improvement this year. LaMelo Ball played 72 games, the second most in his career, while Brandon Miller played 65.

Both players did miss games early in the season, which led to a bad start. Charlotte was 11-22 in the 2025 part of the schedule compared to 33-16 in 2026, and you could feel the buzz building throughout Charlotte during that second-half run. 

Kon Knueppel is just what Charlotte needed 

An influx of youth helped energize the team this season, with Ryan Kalkbrenner and Sion James playing key roles and adding both depth and defense to the roster. 

Then there was Kon Knueppel. I praised the Knueppel pick in my season preview in October, and he proved to be everything and more as he added multiple dimensions to the team, including incredible 3-point shooting, leading the league with 273 made 3s and shooting 42.5%, and a knack for exemplary team basketball. 

Knueppel played unselfishly throughout the season, often giving up open opportunities because he thought a teammate had a better shot. By being an excellent teammate, he taught the team to be better teammates. 

Knueppel was more than a shooter; he created shots in the paint off the dribble and often found teammates for open shots while doing so. He rebounded well, dove for loose balls and played good positional defense. 

Where he fell short at times was with his ballhandling and passing. He needs to tighten his handles to avoid losing the ball off the dribble, which I’ve seen happen too often to ignore. His passing wasn’t always on point, either.

Knueppel also saw a notable drop-off in the last few weeks of the season, a slump that followed him into the play-in tournament. 

Before the March 26 game against the Knicks, he alluded to a back injury that had been vexing him. “[It’s] a little frustrating to have a lingering … nagging injury. Not really holding you out to play, but you just don’t do your best.” 

He made six 3’s out of 10 attempts against New York, scoring 26 total, but following that game finished the season shooting just over 22%. Knueppel didn’t look like the same player as he went 0-6 against Miami and 1-6 against Orlando in the two play-in games. I suspect the strength and conditioning team will be focused on getting that back in shape during the offseason. 

I wondered if Knueppel’s long season playing in all but one of the regular season games had an effect on him, an idea that Lee shot down following the final home game against Detroit. 

“No, there’s coverage that are being changed just to make sure that he’s not able to get involved,” he told me.  

Knueppel appeared to be the favorite to win Rookie of the Year heading into March, but his finish along with a few strong games from Cooper Flagg might change the outcome. 

Still, that doesn’t change how well he played and just how strong of an addition he has been for this team in his first season. 

LaMelo Ball looked like a different player as the season progressed 

No need to adjust your picture, that was LaMelo Ball playing defense in the second half of the season. It appeared that, with more talent on the court, he started to play more team basketball. I think that’s where the “Knueppel effect” came into play. 

Charlotte moved the ball around and let everyone touch it, which led to more blow-out victories. The team’s average margin of victory was historic late in the season. 

“Guys are playing for the guy next to them more than just for themselves,” said reserve Pat Connaughton. “Guys are playing for the final score on the scoreboard, not just the one next to their name.” 

It continued most of the year, but I noticed a change later in March. Knueppel edged Ball out for the 3-point title this season, 273-272, but if you watched the change in Ball’s 3-point shot attempts in the last several games nearing the end, he seemed to be aware of the race. Ball took 32 3-point shots in the last two regular season games compared to 18 for Knueppel. 

Considering what a good teammate Knueppel was, Ball’s play was just the opposite as the season ended. That sort of selfishness plays into why people have questioned whether Ball is a winning player. Hopefully it was just a blip and he continues his undeniable growth, understanding that winning is more important than stats. 

Ball has a lot of talent but needs to shoot less, pass more and become a smarter all-around basketball player. 

Physicality is a big problem for the Hornets 

Charlotte’s play-in game against Orlando was all but over in the first quarter. The Hornets were down 38-16 after one and 68-35 at the half. The fat lady finished the song long before the merciful final buzzer. 

The team had become national media darlings following a hot finish to the regular season and an explosive first play-in game that saw new addition Coby White playing home-state hero. 

Many were speculating that this was not a team you would want to face in the first round of the playoffs. Unfortunately, there would be no first-round matchup. 

Before the Knicks game on March 26, I asked Lee what the Hornets needed to do to win the close games. 

“It comes down to execution defensively, execution offensively, where teams are going to scout us a little bit more and they’re going to amp up their physicality,” he replied. 

After the game, which the Hornets won 114-103, he said, “Our group has a lot to continue to learn, how to finish games, how to match the physicality that starts to come our way.” 

That would ring true during the Pistons game on April 10, when Detroit held the Hornets to just 10 points in the fourth quarter after leading by just three entering the fourth. 

“They got tough, they got physical,” Lee said following that game. “We let some of their physicality bother us.” 

Charlotte lacks size in the front court and that’s a big part of their problem. Moussa Diabate is a wonderful player and gives full effort every minute on the court, but he’s starting at center at just 210 pounds. He would be a better fit at power forward with a big, rough center manning the middle. 

Grant Williams and Sion James can get physical, and Knueppel has girth, but the team as a whole needs to get tougher and play a more physical brand of basketball. 

With the play-in loss, Charlotte still has a slight chance to get a top pick in a very strong draft. They have a 2.4% chance to get one of the top four picks and a 0.5% chance for No. 1. They also have a first-rounder coming from Phoenix as part of a previous trade, so maybe they can move up in the draft if they don’t get lucky with their own pick, which would be 14.

If they stay there as expected, I think finding a way to get Yaxel Lendeborg from Michigan would be a great addition, but I think they would have to trade up at least a few slots to get him. 

Lendeborg is 6’9” and 240 pounds with a 7’4” wingspan and an all-around player. He’s an older rookie — he’ll be 24 when the season starts — but that’s a positive because he should be much more mature than a freshman coming in. 

While the blowout against Orlando left a bad taste, the Hornets were the hottest ticket in town at the end of the season, finishing with a record number of sellouts and proving that Charlotte is a basketball town when you put up a product worth rooting for. 

Coby White proved to be a good addition at the trade deadline and the front office hopes to bring the North Carolina native back. Brandon Miller continues to improve and I expect Knueppel to be even better. 

Now it’s up to President of Basketball Operations Jeff Peterson and the front office. With a few good moves in the offseason and continued health, the Hornets have an excellent chance to break the playoff drought and be a tough out next season.