The Charlotte Hornets’ 2025 offseason looked one way in the moment and another by the time the dust settled.
That’s the lesson for anyone rushing to judge Jeff Peterson and company from the vantage point of the summer of 2026, especially after the team dealt away LaMelo Ball and set off a wave of frustration across Buzz City. The reaction now is loud. But the 2025 moves deserve a second look.
Start with Kon Knueppel, the pick that drew plenty of skepticism when Charlotte made it. A year earlier, the Hornets had gone with Tidjane Salaün, so there were plenty of people who thought the front office was being too conservative this time around. Instead, Knueppel blew past expectations, became a major piece of the team’s turnaround, and even pushed Cooper Flagg in the rookie of the year race.
He wasn’t the only hit from that class. Ryan Kalkbrenner turned into a pleasant surprise, and Sion James carved out a reputation as a lockdown defender. Put them together, and the 2025 group helped deliver Charlotte its first-ever summer league championship.
Not every move was as straightforward, though. The Collin Sexton deal was originally about adding veteran leadership, but the real payoff came later when Coby White arrived from the Bulls in the Sexton trade at the deadline.
White became the veteran presence Charlotte had wanted months earlier. You can argue there’s no White without Sexton, but the flip itself wasn’t the plan from the start.
Sometimes the deal only makes sense after the season plays out.
Mark Williams was another case where Charlotte’s patience finally paid off. The Hornets had already tried once to move on, and getting him out the door the second time was clearly a priority.
In return, they landed Vasilije Micić, the 29th overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, which became Liam McNeeley, and a 2029 future first-round pick. McNeeley has already given Charlotte reason to feel good after strong play in Vegas earlier this month.
Williams, meanwhile, played 60 games for Phoenix this year, a notable step for a player whose health had been a real concern.
Then there was Pat Connaughton, whose arrival prompted a very different kind of reaction. The immediate feeling around the move was relief, but Connaughton wound up sticking around and giving the Hornets something they needed: a steady veteran voice when things got difficult.
That’s the bigger point here. The 2025 offseason doesn’t look quite as simple as it did at the time.
Some of the grades changed fast, some changed slowly, and some changed only after the season had time to tell the story. As the next season approaches, that’s worth remembering.
In Other News...
Liam McNeeley May Have Already Changed The Hornets Rotation
Summer League has a way of reshuffling the conversation before training camp even opens, and Liam McNeeley did enough in Las Vegas to make the Hornets take a harder look at their wing rotation. With Josh Green and Miles Bridges no longer in the picture and Dorian Finney-Smith now in the mix, there is a clearer path for minutes, and McNeeleys shooting gave Charlotte something it can use.
Over three games, McNeeley knocked down 10 of 19 from three and averaged 21.7 points, the kind of showing that can move a rookie from interesting to cant keep him buried. The real question now is how quickly that production translates into a bigger role, because the Hornets could use another scoring option off the second unit and McNeeley just made a strong case to be part of that answer. [Read more 🡒]
Gilbert Arenas Just Flipped The LaMelo Play In Blame Game
Gilbert Arenas has taken the blame-game around LaMelo Ball and flipped it on its head, arguing that the Heat were the ones working the situation to their advantage after Bam Adebayo went down in a play-in game. The discussion stems from the hard foul by Ball that sent Adebayo out late in an overtime loss, a play that quickly drew attention because the Hornets guard was later fined by the NBA for unnecessary and reckless conduct.
Arenas, though, pushed back on the idea that Ball should be the one carrying the criticism, and his take has added a fresh layer to a mess that already had plenty of heat around it. The broader claim is speculative and unsupported, but it has kept the focus on whether Miami's handling of Adebayo's injury changed the way people viewed the game and the fallout that followed. [Read more 🡒]
Hornets Fans Know Exactly Why This New Topps Release Will Sting
Topps is getting ready to open pre-orders for its 2025-26 Topps Chrome Black Basketball product on Tuesday, July 28 at noon ET, and for Hornets fans, the appeal is pretty obvious. The release is built around the usual modern card chase points, with rookie cards, parallels, and inserts like Carbon Flare and Home Court, plus a lineup of autographs that should draw plenty of attention from collectors who follow the league closely.
For Charlotte, the buzz only gets louder because this is the kind of product that can turn a new season into an early collecting frenzy. The pricing has not been announced yet, but that has not stopped hobby watchers from bracing for a premium box, especially with some of the most sought-after rookie names in the class expected to be part of the mix when the pre-orders go live. [Read more 🡒]