Zach Lowe didn’t put the Charlotte Hornets at the very bottom of his list, but they were close. On the Sept. 10 episode of The Zach Lowe Show with Law Murray, Lowe ranked Charlotte second among seven NBA teams that have not won a playoff series in the 2020s, with only the Orlando Magic ahead of them. The rest of the group, in Lowe’s order, was the Washington Wizards, Portland Trail Blazers, New Orleans Pelicans, Chicago Bulls, and Sacramento Kings.
Lowe also pointed to the shape of Charlotte’s roster and the uncertainty around where it fits in the East. “They're super deep.
They're going to have guys who played last year ... that are just not in the rotation,” Lowe said. “Coby White for LaMelo?
Probably a step back offensively, but I don't know how much a step back it's going to be.”
Charlotte’s season a year ago had its highs and its hard stop. The Hornets opened 4-14 through late November, ripped off nine straight wins between January and February, and finished 44-38, ninth in the Eastern Conference, with the league’s fifth-ranked offense.
LaMelo Ball’s layup with 4.7 seconds left in overtime lifted Charlotte past the Miami Heat 127-126 in the first play-in game on April 14. Three nights later, Orlando jumped out to a 22-point first-quarter lead and rolled to a 121-90 win, extending Charlotte’s postseason drought to 10 straight seasons.
No other team in the league has gone longer.
Lowe said the Hornets are being viewed as a team stuck near the middle of the conference picture. “They're kind of penciled in as 11th in the East, and that's probably appropriate,” he explained. “Defensively, it's going to be a bit of a challenge for them ... just pure upside, and someone on the Cavs or Pistons is injured, who knows?”
The franchise’s last playoff series win came in 2002, and its most recent postseason appearance was a seven-game first-round loss to Miami in 2016.
This offseason brought a major reset. Charlotte traded Ball and Josh Green to the Minnesota Timberwolves on June 25 for Naz Reid, an unprotected 2033 first-round pick, three first-round swaps, and three second-round picks in a deal first reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania. Reid averaged 13.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.2 assists last season in his seventh year with Minnesota.
The Hornets also brought back Coby White on a three-year, $74 million deal. Before the Feb. 4 deadline trade that sent him from the Chicago Bulls to Charlotte, he was averaging 18.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 4.7 assists.
Then came another major move. Three days after the Ball trade, Charlotte agreed to send Miles Bridges to the Phoenix Suns for Grayson Allen, Royce O'Neale, and a 2033 Phoenix first-round pick.
Bridges was in the final year of a contract that paid him $22.8 million. The team even released footage of general manager Jeff Peterson during the trade talks.
“If we trade LaMelo, we're probably trading Miles,” Peterson said.
Charlotte also added Hannes Steinbach at No. 14 and Christian Anderson at No. 18 in the June draft.
Peterson told ESPN in the team preview that the organization’s “goal isn't to get to the play-in or even the playoffs for one year.”
That leaves the Hornets with a different kind of conversation entering the new season: not whether they can sneak into the bracket, but how far their reshaped roster can go once the dust settles.
In Other News...
Hornets Camp Opens With Brandon Miller Questions They Can't Ignore
Training camp is arriving with the Hornets already juggling more than just rotations and roster spots. Charlotte is trying to build toward the 2026-27 season after the departure of LaMelo Ball, while also working in new faces and getting a feel for what the group can become in preseason.
Brandon Miller sits at the center of a far less tidy question. His summer has been shaped by shoulder surgery, and the Hornets still do not have a contract extension in place even though the calendar opened that door in July. For a team trying to set its tone early, his availability and long-term status are two issues it cannot really afford to treat as background noise. [Read more 🡒]
Former Hornets Veteran Calls Time On A Long NBA Career
Taj Gibsons long run in the NBA has come to a close, bringing an end to a career that stretched across 17 seasons and more than 1,000 games. The veteran big man, drafted by the Chicago Bulls in 2009, carved out a reputation as a steady presence wherever he landed, and Charlotte was one of the stops on that journey during the 2024-25 season.
For the Hornets, Gibson was one of those experienced voices who can matter even in a brief stay, especially for a young roster looking for structure and professionalism. He ultimately finished his career with the Memphis Grizzlies, and while the final chapter is now written, the next one is only beginning to take shape. [Read more 🡒]
Hornets Fans Just Lost Something Important Before Training Camp
For the first time in the Charlotte Observers history, the Hornets are headed toward training camp without a dedicated beat reporter at the paper. Rod Boone had covered the team for five years, and his role was eliminated in the latest McClatchy layoffs, a move that also hit other sports departments within the company, including the Sacramento Bee.
The timing stings for Hornets fans because it comes just as the team is getting ready to shift into a new season and the usual flow of camp coverage, roster questions and daily updates should be ramping up. It also lands soon after Boone had been told his Hornets podcast would be allowed to return, adding another layer to a decision that leaves a noticeable gap in the local coverage around the team. [Read more 🡒]