Greensboro Swarm make history, clinch first G-League playoff berth in franchise history

It's been almost a decade since the Charlotte Hornets last made the NBA playoffs. The team's seven-game barn burner against the Miami Heat in 2016 marks the last time Charlotte's professional basketball outfit suited up in the league's annual postseason tournament.

Just a few months after Kemba Walker, Al Jefferson, and the rest of the Charlotte Hornets walked off the floor following game seven in Miami, the franchise's G-League squad, the Greensboro Swarm, tipped off their first game in its history. Fast-forward nine years, and those same Swarm have done something that the Hornets haven't done since 2016: clinch a playoff berth.

PLAYOFF BOUND!!! For the first time in Swarm history ✍️ #SwarmOn

🔗 https://t.co/K1SYosEsCs pic.twitter.com/CZhTJlD61g
— Greensboro Swarm (@greensboroswarm) March 27, 2025

The Swarm's playoff berth was secured during Wednesday night's action. Two teams they were jockeying for playoff positioning with, the Motor City Cruise and the College Park Skyhawks, both lost, locking the Swarm into a guaranteed playoff position.

Greensboro's 19-13 record is good for fifth in the G-League's Eastern Conference.

The number three and four seeds in the playoffs host winner-take-all games in round one of the G-League playoffs, and as of this publication, the Swarm will hit the road in one of those games as the five seed.

However, there is still a bunch to play for this week.

Greensboro is single game behind the four teams (the Capital City Go-Go, the Westchester Knicks, the Osceola Magic, and the Maine Red Claws) that are currently tied for first in the East. If Greensboro jumps to the one of the top two seeds in the East, they'll get a bye in the first round before hosting a winner-take-all game in the second round of the playoffs.

Swarm head coach DJ Bakker is in his first season with the team. His most recent coaching stint was as an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks, but he cut his teeth in the G-League as the head coach of the Motor City Cruise from 2021-23.

On the court, Greensboro is led by Jaylen Sims (19.1 points per game), Keyontae Johnson (17.9 points per game) and Reggie Perry (17.5 points per game), and two-way point guard KJ Simpson (20.9 points per game).

The G-League playoffs tip off on April 1st.

- MORE STORIES FROM HORNETS ON SI -

Charlotte Hornets look to the future, break ground on new practice facility

Revisiting the Hornets' decision to fire James Borrego three years ago

Tidjane Salaün is starting to come into form for the Hornets

Puma releases new LaMelo Ball x Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shoes