It's been a never-ending battle to be great, but there's finally promise in the Queen City. But the Hornets aren't all the way there. What else do they need to do to get there?
For the Charlotte Hornets, the 2025-26 season has been rather frustrating.
Glimpses of greatness, followed by signs of youth, immaturity and frustration.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and no one expected the Hornets to be perennial contenders from the jump. But seasons like these are crucial to the growth of a franchise.
Learn from your mistakes, show off what you’re capable of, and parlay it into playoff runs years from now.
You may be asking, “How many more times do we as fans have to endure this?”
Good question, and it’s incredibly valid.
Ever since professional basketball has returned to the Queen City in 2004, the Bobcats/Hornets franchise have made the playoffs a total of three seasons and have won three playoff games.
So you fans are understandably fed up.
The problem is, Charlotte has hardly done right by its franchise, whether it be poor draft picks, an owner who wouldn’t invest in its team, or letting other players walk where they thrive elsewhere.
Now it is.
The Hornets have drafted basketball junkies in Kon Knueppel, Sion James, Ryan Kalkbrenner and Liam McNeeley, with reports coming out that the organization already views Knueppel as the franchise centerpiece.
Step one complete.
Players like Kalkbrenner and James are already generating net-positive minutes. Both were second rounders, and when you can maximize the most out of your second rounders, you at least have a recipe for something sustainable.
Our Ashish Mathur reported that there’s an overall vibe surrounding the Hornets, and that they’re a “soft” team. A team that doesn’t foul often, but instead of that being a positive, it’s actually an indication that they’re not physical enough.
But is that all?
Right now, the Hornets are in the bottom tier in overall pace, field goal percentage, steals, turnovers and defensive rating.
They also take the sixth most 3-pointers, but are ranked 17th in 3-point percentage.
However, the trend that we usually see in young teams like the Hornets is an inability to close out games.
Currently, the Hornets are 23rd in the league in fourth quarter scoring, while also letting up the 10th-most points in the second half.
Luckily though, they managed to right a wrong, taking a game to the end with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and holding onto the win.
There will have to be some adjustments as the season goes on, because Charlotte is hardly out of the play-in race, and for a team like this, any form of competitive basketball will be a huge boost.
Right now Charlotte holds a 9-19 record and are three and a half games behind the Chicago Bulls, who are 10th in the standings.
The season’s still early, so there’s plenty of time to adjust. If the Hornets use the early portion of the season to grow instead of pout, it will only be a positive for the rebuild.