Coby White’s return gave the Charlotte Hornets a jolt Monday, but it didn’t change the bigger picture much. Charlotte got its starting point guard back after he spent the past month working his way through a left calf strain, and the welcome was loud enough to be heard all over the Spectrum Center’s inner bowels.
White had barely wrapped up shootaround before teammates kept shouting his name, turning a routine morning into a small celebration. The reaction only underscored how much the Hornets had missed him while he sat out training camp and the first seven games.
“The environment that they’ve created here, the environment that my teammates have created, we all want to see each other succeed,” White said. “And we are all here for each other.
It’s a dope moment for me for everybody to be excited for me to come back. It feels good knowing that they are excited for me to come back.”
White was back in the starting lineup for Charlotte’s 124-91 loss to the Detroit Pistons, though he was limited to 15 minutes as the Hornets eased him in. The result extended Charlotte’s losing streak to four games, but the return still counted as a small win for a team trying to get healthier.
The Hornets have also been without Kon Knueppel and Grant Williams. Knueppel has been dealing with a strained left hamstring and looks on track to make his season debut Wednesday in Brooklyn, barring any setbacks.
That would bring Charlotte closer to the group it expected to have from the start. Coach Charles Lee said White’s body has been one of the biggest positives since his return.
“A couple of things that I’ve noticed from him,” Hornets coach Charles Lee said. “One, his body looks great.
That was something that he wanted to focus on, coming back and being in really good shape. You can’t really recreate basketball movements - stopping and cutting and going, the pace and physicality.
“But he wanted to make sure he was eating cleaner, and it’s definitely paying dividends.”
For now, White will be brought along carefully, with a minutes restriction in place. His return also shifts Dennis Schröder back into the reserve point guard role the Hornets had planned for when they acquired him from the Cleveland Cavaliers for Tre Mann in August. Schröder had started all seven games while White was out, and his workload is expected to drop from the 32.4 minutes per game he’s been carrying.
White’s role is supposed to be central to Charlotte’s offense. He re-signed as a free agent in July, and the Hornets handed him the keys because of what he can do in situational basketball, especially late in quarters. Lee wants to tap into that basketball I.Q. as much as possible.
The Hornets need help on that end in a hurry. They haven’t reached 100 points in half of their games, and their 97.4 points per game is the lowest mark in the NBA. White’s return alone won’t fix that, but it gives Charlotte another piece to lean on.
It also comes with a reminder that the problems run deeper than one player’s absence. The Hornets have turned it over 45 times over their last two games, and White made it clear that one return won’t clean that up by itself.
“It ain't going to change overnight,” White said. “We're a team.
Me coming into the lineup … it ain't gonna really change. We're not going to magically go from 20-whatever turnovers to five turnovers.
We play fast, we play upbeat. Up-tempo is the way we play.
But how do we limit (turnovers), turning that number from 25 to 13, 14 and not as many non-ball turnovers?”
In Other News...
Hornets Offense Desperately Needs Kon Knueppel Back This Week
Charlottes offense has spent the opening stretch of the season searching for a spark, and the Hornets are still waiting for Kon Knueppel to provide the one they were counting on. After a rookie year that saw him set multiple NBA records, including the most 3-pointers made in a season and a string of 20-point games on efficient shooting, Knueppel looked like the kind of perimeter threat who could change the shape of this lineup almost immediately.
Instead, the Hornets have had to play without him while dealing with the leagues worst offense, a glaring problem that has only sharpened the anticipation around his return. The good news for Charlotte is that the wait may not be much longer, and with a pair of games on deck, the team is hoping Knueppel can give a sputtering attack the shot-making and spacing it has been missing. [Read more 🡒]
Hornets Could Get A Key Offensive Piece Back At The Perfect Time
Kon Knueppels absence has lingered long enough to become part of the Hornets nightly equation, with the wing missing eight straight games because of a left hamstring strain. Charlotte has had to keep moving without one of its more promising offensive pieces, even as the calendar starts to make every healthy body matter a little more.
Head coach Charles Lee has made it clear the wait may not be much longer, though he stopped short of putting a date on Knueppels return. The Hornets also locked in his salary for next season by exercising his contract option for 2027-28, a small but meaningful sign of how much the organization values his place in the rotation once hes back on the floor. [Read more 🡒]
Hornets May Finally Get The Rotation Help They Desperately Need
Charlottes rotation could get a needed boost Wednesday night in Brooklyn, with Kon Knueppel and Coby White both listed as probable. Knueppel has yet to appear this season after missing the first eight games with a left hamstring strain, while White is back in the mix after recently working his way through a left calf strain.
Grant Williams, meanwhile, remains sidelined with a right hamstring injury and still has not played this season after getting hurt during offseason workouts. For a Hornets group trying to steady its depth and find more reliable minutes on the wing and in the backcourt, the potential return of Knueppel and White comes at an important time, even if the full picture is still not quite complete. [Read more 🡒]