The Charlotte Hornets have seen this movie before.
At 4-8, they’re sitting in the same early-season hole they dug a year ago, when they also dropped eight of their first 12. Back then, the start looked ugly enough to point toward another lost season.
Instead, the Hornets flipped the script, finished with 44 wins, and spent the second half of the year looking like one of the league’s best teams. Their offense, in particular, became the best in basketball.
That’s why the question now is simple: can they do it again?
There are reasons to think they can. Last season’s turnaround wasn’t immediate - the Hornets didn’t really find their stride until they got to 16-27 - but better health and a lineup change eventually unlocked everything. LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller both missed time early, and once they were back, Moussa Diabaté’s move into the lineup helped change the entire feel of the team.
The same kind of boost could be coming, though it may take longer this time. Kon Knueppel is still a ways from returning, but getting him and Miller back on the floor together should help the offense. There’s also a case to be made that Ryan Kalkbrenner should replace Diabaté in the starting group, even if that’s the opposite of what happened last season.
The numbers make that argument hard to ignore. Diabaté was one of the NBA’s best on/off players a year ago, but this season the Hornets are -21.5 in his minutes, a sharp drop from his +10.7 mark last year. Kalkbrenner, meanwhile, has posted a +29.3 on/off split, which ranks sixth in the NBA.
That’s not a small sample curiosity. It’s a massive number, and it could push Charlotte toward a change.
Still, there’s a ceiling here that last year’s team had and this one doesn’t. Ball is not available to steer the offense toward elite territory, and the wait for full health is longer. By December 23, the Hornets had reached their final form in 2025-26, and Knueppel may not be back by then.
So yes, the Hornets can get better. They probably will.
But that’s the catch: climbing out of this kind of start is one thing. Turning it into a playoff-caliber season is another entirely.
In Other News...
Hornets Get Caught In A Suns Reunion With Extra Tension
The Suns arrive in Charlotte riding the momentum of a win over the Clippers, but this one carries a little more edge than a routine East-West stop. The Hornets are dealing with a long injury list, while Phoenix will be without Mark Williams because of offseason surgery, setting up a matchup that already has a different feel because of the personnel on both sides.
The trade that sent Miles Bridges to Phoenix and brought Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale to Charlotte still hangs over this meeting, especially with both teams continuing to sort out roles and rotation pieces around the deal. Jordan Ott has already talked about the value Allen and O'Neale can bring, and Bridges has been part of that same conversation from the Suns side, which gives this game a little extra tension even before the ball goes up. [Read more 🡒]
Hornets Let A Winnable Game Slip Away For One Frustrating Reason
The Hornets had enough going for them in Phoenix to make this one feel winnable for long stretches. They rebounded well, shot the 3-ball effectively and took care of business at the line, the kind of ingredients that usually give a young team a chance on the road. Even with injuries forcing lineup shuffling, there were encouraging signs from the supporting cast and a promising look from Coby White before his night was kept in check.
What ultimately undid Charlotte was the part of the game that tends to travel the worst for a team still learning how to close. The ball kept slipping away at the wrong times, and the late-game execution never settled in enough to protect the lead it had built. For a Hornets group trying to patch together a rotation and find some consistency, the frustration was less about effort than about a familiar, self-inflicted problem that turned a manageable night into another missed opportunity. [Read more 🡒]
Grayson Allen Returns To Phoenix With Something To Prove
Grayson Allens return to Phoenix carries a little extra weight for the Hornets, even if the season has already moved on from the offseason trade that brought him to Charlotte. Allen left behind a memorable run with the Suns, including a career night when he poured in 42 points and came close to the franchise mark for made 3-pointers in a game, and he has since settled into a valuable veteran role for a Charlotte team trying to steady itself through injuries.
For the Hornets, Allens presence has mattered beyond the box score because he has brought experience and consistency to a roster that has needed both. The reunion also adds a layer of intrigue for Charlotte, since Allen was appreciative of his time in Phoenix and now gets a chance to remind his old team what it gave up, even if the full story of that move still hangs over the matchup. [Read more 🡒]