Grant Williams didn’t hesitate when asked about the Hornets’ new-look roster.
“Our depth is ridiculous,” Williams said on the No Dunks YouTube channel after Charlotte spent the summer remaking its team around a different core. He pointed to the talent on the roster, the shooting, and the way the group fits together, saying, “I think we have a great chance to surprise a lot of people.”
That confidence comes with a major caveat: Williams won’t be on the floor when camp opens Tuesday. The Hornets announced Friday that both Williams and Kon Knueppel suffered hamstring injuries during offseason on-court work.
Williams has a right hamstring injury, while Knueppel is dealing with a left hamstring injury. Both players will miss all four preseason games, and Charlotte plans to reevaluate them during the first week of the regular season, which begins Oct. 21 at the Brooklyn Nets.
For Williams, the setback lands after a season in which he worked his way back from a torn ACL in his right knee. He returned in January from the injury, which had kept him sidelined since November 2024. In 36 games last season, including three starts, he averaged 7.0 points and 3.9 rebounds.
Williams’ comments came after a summer of major change in Charlotte. The Hornets agreed to trade LaMelo Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves on June 25, then sent Miles Bridges to the Phoenix Suns three days later.
Ball had been one of the team’s biggest offensive engines, putting up 20.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 7.1 assists in 72 games last season. He had three years remaining on a five-year, $203.9 million designated rookie contract.
In the deal with Minnesota, the Hornets received Naz Reid, a 2033 unprotected first-round pick, three first-round pick swaps, and three second-round picks. Charlotte also included Josh Green in the trade.
Bridges was headed into the final season of his contract, worth $22.8 million. Charlotte sent him, along with a 2029 first-round pick and a 2027 second-round pick, to Phoenix for Grayson Allen, Royce O'Neale, and a 2033 first-round pick.
The Hornets have also worked to stabilize the backcourt. Charlotte acquired Coby White from the Chicago Bulls on Feb. 4, and in 21 games with the Hornets he averaged 15.6 points while shooting 46.1% from the field and 39.1% from 3-point range.
On June 25, the same day the Ball trade was agreed to, White also agreed to a three-year, $74 million contract to remain with the Hornets, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. He is expected to start at point guard.
Charlotte’s young talent is still the headline, and Knueppel and Brandon Miller sit at the center of it. Knueppel, the fourth overall pick in 2025, averaged 18.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 81 games as a rookie. He led the NBA with 273 3-pointers, breaking the previous rookie mark of 206 set by Keegan Murray, and finished second in Rookie of the Year voting behind Cooper Flagg of the Dallas Mavericks.
Miller put together a 20.2-point, 4.9-rebound, 3.3-assist season in his third year, playing through a left shoulder injury before undergoing surgery in May.
The Hornets also continued to shuffle pieces late in the offseason. On Sept. 22, they sent Dorian Finney-Smith to the Atlanta Hawks for Buddy Hield, Ryan Nembhard, and cash. Charlotte waived Nembhard on Saturday night, and later that evening Charania reported the team was trading Hield and cash to the Bulls for Rob Dillingham, the eighth overall pick in 2024.
After all the movement, Charlotte is coming off a 44-38 season, a big jump from 19 wins in 2024-25. The Hornets finished ninth in the Eastern Conference, knocked off the Miami Heat in the play-in tournament, and then lost to the Orlando Magic in their second play-in game.
In Other News...
Rob Dillingham Already Feels Like A Hornets Roster Question
Rob Dillingham is barely in the door and already feels like one of the Hornets cleaner roster questions. Charlotte acquired him from the Chicago Bulls, but he will miss the teams media day, a small detail that still says plenty about how quickly this move has turned from a fresh addition into a numbers game for the front office.
The bigger backdrop is Charlottes roster crunch, with the team needing to get down to 15 standard contracts before opening night. Dillingham is under contract now and has already been with three NBA teams since being drafted in 2024, yet there has been little public indication from Jeff Peterson that the Hornets view him as a long-term piece, which leaves his place on the roster looking very much unsettled. [Read more 🡒]
Hornets May Have Just Let A Young Guard Slip Away
The Hornets latest trade-deadline move brought Dorian Finney-Smith into Charlotte while sending Buddy Hield, Ryan Nembhard and cash considerations to Atlanta, a deal that looked more like a veteran shuffle than a long-term roster swing. But the transaction may have had an overlooked angle for Charlotte, because Nembhard came in as part of the package and brought the kind of young backcourt intrigue teams often try to uncover in these swaps.
Now there is a real chance he does not stay available for long. The Nuggets have shown interest in adding Nembhard on a two-way contract if he clears waivers, and Denver also recently signed 2023 first-round pick Cam Whitmore to a two-way NBA deal, a reminder that clubs around the league are still hunting for developmental guards wherever they can find them. For the Hornets, it is the sort of small personnel decision that can linger if a young player finds a cleaner path elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]
Brandon Miller Update Just Raised The Stakes For Charlottes Season
Brandon Millers offseason rehab is moving in the right direction, and that alone gives Charlotte a cleaner runway heading into camp. Hornets general manager Jeff Peterson said Miller has made significant progress after shoulder surgery and is expected to participate in training camp, a promising update for a team that has been trying to build a more stable foundation around its young core.
Peterson also framed the bigger picture in practical terms, stressing that sustained success depends on pairing star talent with real roster depth. Charlottes offseason additions were part of that approach, giving the Hornets more ways to absorb injuries, survive the long regular season and keep the pressure from landing entirely on one or two players if Miller returns on schedule. [Read more 🡒]