Breaking down why the Charlotte Hornets selected Liam McNeeley

After sending Mark Williams to the Phoenix Suns, the Charlotte Hornets have made their selection with the pick they got in return. With the 29th overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, Jeff Peterson and Charles Lee honed in on Liam McNeeley.

McNeeley entered his lone college season as a top 10 recruit in the country after dominating the high school ranks with Cooper Flagg and Derik Queen at Monteverde Academy. The sell for McNeeley, much like fellow draftee Kon Knueppel, is his burner of a jump shot.

He struggled overall in his lone college season at Connecticut for a number of reasons, the main one being a high ankle sprain that limited his movement abilities and led to his struggles as a shooter. McNeeley shot 31.7% on threes during his freshman campaign, a disappointing number for one of the best shooters in his high school class.

The newest Charlotte Hornet projects to be the type of catch-and-shoot threat that the Hornets desperately need. McNeeley thrives as a movement shooter, boasting pristine mechanics when bombing away, an archetype on the wing that every functioning NBA offense needs to thrive in the regular season.

McNeeley is a connective passer that keeps the ball whizzing on the perimeter and will function nicely as an advantage extender in Charles Lee's fast-paced five-out offense. He's not a primary or secondary ball handler, but when the ball gets moved to McNeeley on the wing after the defense gets stuck in rotation, the draftee can be trusted to make the right decision more often than not.

At UConn, McNeeley was pigenholed into a primary creation role when he's best served as an off-ball gravity bender that knocks down open shots and attacks closeouts. He'll have the luxury to do that when surrounded by LaMelo Ball, Kon Knueppel, and Brandon Miller, the trio primed to carry Charlotte's offensive playmaking load.

When attacking close outs, McNeeley will need to find counters outside of knocking down jumpers. He lacks the requisite athleticism and vertical pop to finish over defenders.

On defense, the former Husky will struggle. McNeeley has some athletic limitations (although he tested well at the combine) that will make him a target for opposing offenses on day one. He lacks the type of lateral agility and foot speed that other wings drafted near the end of round one (Drake Powell and Hugo Gonzalez, for example) possess, limiting his potential as a defensive stopper.

Outside of his shooting and connective playmaking, the rest of McNeeley's offense will take some development. He finished less than 50% of his attempts at the rim (48.6%) in his lone season at UConn, but the large majority of his makes were unassisted, giving hope that there are some self-creation skills buried deep in his prospect profile.

To understand why Charlotte selected him, this snippet from Sam Vecenie's NBA draft guide will provide clarity: 'Plays winning basketball. Plays hard. Has a good mentality. Motor runs hot. Plays with fire and aggressiveness. Chases loose balls regularly.'

Sounds a lot like Hornets DNA to me.

Charlotte clearly targeted a couple things with their pair of first round selections. High character., secondary and tertiary playmaking, elite shooting, and connectivity: all things their bottom of the league offense lacked in 2024-25.

Peterson failed to add a Mark Williams replacement in round one, but a trio of bigs, Rasheer Fleming, Maxime Raynaud, and Ryan Kalkbrenner loom as targets at the top of tomorrow's second round. If Charlotte lands one of those three, it will be hard to complain about this draft haul.

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