The Charlotte Hornets just gave themselves proof they can win, and now they’re acting like that’s not enough.
After a 44-39 finish in 2025-26, the franchise’s first above-.500 season in a decade came with a catch: Jeff Peterson is clearly not treating it like the finish line. That record was only the second winning season the Hornets have posted in the last ten years, but the offseason moves have pointed in a different direction - one that suggests patience, not celebration.
On a recent episode of The Hoop Collective, NBA insider Tim McMahon laid out his read on what Charlotte is doing and why the expectations may be sliding with it. McMahon set the Hornets’ win total at 39.5 and explained the logic behind the roster changes.
“Look, they made those trades to say, ‘Look, we’re not on the verge of something big now. We want to build around these young guys.’
And they are willing to take a step back to try to give themselves a long-term, higher ceiling. I do think it’s a step back from 44 wins last year.
I think they are in the high 30s, but I’ll go under here.”
The message is pretty clear from the outside: Charlotte is not trying to squeeze every last win out of the present. Coby White and Naz Reid are useful players, but they don’t exactly look like the kind of additions a team makes when it believes it is one piece away from turning Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel into a true Eastern Conference threat.
Peterson may not say it that way publicly, but the moves tell the story. The Hornets appear to be playing the long game, with an eye toward what could be available three or four years from now rather than what can be forced into place right now. If the belief was that LaMelo Ball could carry them there in the immediate future, the trade and other offseason decisions would have looked a lot different.
Miller is 23 and Knueppel is 21, and Charlotte’s hope is that both continue climbing until they reach all-star-level impact. From there, the plan is to have the flexibility - and the draft capital - to make a bigger move, whether that comes through free agency or a trade.
For now, though, the East makes that road look steep. The Hornets’ current path is about building toward a better window later, not forcing one open today. This is a multi-year project, and Charlotte is treating it like one.
In Other News...
Hornets Face A Frustrating Reality About This Roster
Charlotte spent last season on the playoff fringe before finishing 44-38 and again watching the postseason from home, and the offseason has brought a mix of continuity and change. The Hornets re-signed Coby White, added Dorian Finney-Smith, and used the draft to bring in Hannes Steinbach and Christian Anderson, while an expected starting group would feature White alongside Brandon Miller, Kon Knueppel, Reid and Moussa Diabate.
Still, the broader read on the roster is less encouraging than the individual moves might suggest. With Jeff Peterson publicly expressing confidence in Miller and Knueppel after the trade of LaMelo Ball, the question now is whether Charlotte has enough high-end talent in place to do more than hover around the middle of the pack, or whether it will need to lean on future picks and swaps to chase another star before the ceiling starts to rise. [Read more 🡒]
Hornets Face A Brutal Question Without LaMelo Ball
LaMelo Balls absence leaves Charlotte with the kind of roster question every rebuilding team eventually has to answer: who gets the ball, who creates, and who can actually handle the extra weight over the course of a season? The conversation naturally starts with Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller, both of whom are expected to see bigger opportunities, while Coby White also factors into the picture as someone who could be asked to absorb more responsibility in the backcourt.
What makes the issue tricky is that each of those players is still working through something different, whether it is sharpening a skill set, expanding a role, or simply proving the workload is sustainable. Even the rookies, Hannes Steinbach and Christian Anderson Jr., are part of the broader evaluation, though their promise comes with obvious limitations right now, which leaves Charlotte staring at a season defined less by certainty than by how quickly a new hierarchy can take shape. [Read more 🡒]