The Hornets will be without Kon Knueppel for the entire preseason after the team said Friday that the Rookie of the Year runner-up is dealing with a left hamstring injury.
Charlotte plans to reevaluate Knueppel during the first week of the regular season. Even then, Scott Fowler of The Charlotte Observer notes there’s a chance the rookie could miss more than a few early games, since players usually need time to ramp back up after that kind of checkup, assuming everything goes well. Fowler also reports that a source does not expect the injury to cost Knueppel a significant chunk of his second season.
Elsewhere around the Southeast, the Heat’s G League affiliate filled out its bench. The Sioux Falls Skyforce announced their coaching staff for the 2026/27 season on Sunday, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
Mario Casamajor will lead the group as head coach, with Remy NDiaye, Norris Cole, Nate Wilson and Darius Johnson-Odom serving as assistants. Chiang points out that Cole spent his first three-plus NBA seasons with Miami.
In Orlando, Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel laid out five questions facing the Magic in training camp, including how the team will adjust to new head coach Sean Sweeney and whether Anthony Black will agree to a rookie scale extension before the October 19 deadline.
The Hawks also got their camp roster in order on Friday. Brad Rowland of Locked on Hawks reported Atlanta’s 19-player training camp group, though the final few spots may still be unsettled.
Rowland says the team has been cycling Exhibit 10 players in and out as camp approaches. NBA teams can carry as many as 21 players during the offseason and training camp.
In Other News...
Franz Wagner Could Decide How Far This New Magic Team Goes
Franz Wagner enters this season in a different kind of reset for the Magic, one that goes beyond the new coaching staff led by Sean Sweeney. He spent the offseason working back from a high ankle sprain and calf strain that hampered him last year, and Orlando will be eager to see how quickly he settles into a fresh system after an interrupted stretch.
There is also a personal adjustment layered into the basketball one, with Wagner preparing for the first time to play an NBA season without his brother on the same team after the older Wagner signed with the Brooklyn Nets. For Orlando, the bigger picture is clear: if this new version of the team is going to take a meaningful step, Wagners health and comfort in the new setup will be a major part of it. [Read more 🡒]
Magic Believe Their Quiet Reset Can Finally Change One Big Problem
A quiet offseason has left the Magic looking much the same on paper, and that is partly the point. Orlando kept most of its roster intact, made only a few moves, and moved into a new coaching era with Sean Sweeney taking over as head coach, a setup that has them landing in the middle of a lot of national preseason power rankings rather than at the center of any summer splash.
Jeff Weltman has sounded comfortable with that low-drama approach, saying the organization liked the focus that came with it, and players have already spoken positively about Sweeneys style. The real test, of course, starts when training camp opens Tuesday, with the preseason set to begin Oct. 7, because the Magic still have to prove that a quieter reset can turn into something more meaningful once the games count. [Read more 🡒]
Paolo Banchero Faces The Question That Could Define Orlandos Season
The Magic head into the new season with Jamahl Mosley in place as the new head coach and Paolo Banchero sitting at the center of everything they hope to build. As Orlando keeps shaping its identity, Banchero is expected to be the franchises leading player, the one who can set the tone night after night and give the team a clear direction in a crowded Eastern Conference race.
Banchero has already shown the kind of talent that makes the ceiling easy to imagine, but the next step is about turning that promise into something steadier. Analysts have pointed to his need for more consistency and stronger leadership, and those are the traits that could determine whether Orlandos season feels like another step forward or just another year of waiting for the breakout to fully arrive. [Read more 🡒]