Hornets announce opening night roster, will face Nets in first game of 2025-26

The Charlotte Hornets officially unveiled their opening night roster for the 2025-26 regular season, which will begin for Charlotte on Wednesday with a home game against the Brooklyn Nets.

Not surprisingly, Charlotte's roster stands at 18 players, which includes three two-way players. Let's break down the different aspects of the Hornets' squad.

Breaking down the Hornets' opening night roster for 2025-26

Starters and potential starters (7): LaMelo Ball, Collin Sexton, Kon Knueppel, Brandon Miller, Miles Bridges, Moussa Diabate, Ryan Kalkbrenner

LaMelo, Miller, and Bridges are locks to start. The competition between Knueppel and Sexton has been talked about a lot during preseason, but it's actually not that relevant, as both guys will be playing big minutes, regardless of who starts. (Sexton makes more sense to begin the season).

The Kalkbrenner/Diabate dynamic is sort of the same situation.

How Charles Lee decides to end games will be a bigger hint about who he values most. Matchups, time and score, and the specific opponent will also factor into that, of course.

Key bench guys (4): Tre Mann, Grant Williams, Josh Green, Liam McNeeley

Mann is good enough to be a starting guard in the NBA, so look for him to dominate offensively against opposing benches. Williams and Green are still hurt, and it'll be interesting to see how Lee incorporates them back into the lineup once they are healthy.

McNeeley is the X-factor for Charlotte's bench ceiling in 2025-26. If he has the rookie season he's capable of (replete with ample opportunities from Lee), the Hornets' second unit could be among the team's greatest strengths, at least offensively.

Bench guys you shouldn't sleep on (3): Pat Connaughton, Mason Plumlee, Drew Peterson

Connaughton is too good not to be considered for Charlotte's rotation. He's an NBA champion with clear value on both ends of the floor. Everything he does is for the sake of winning, and he doesn't make a ton of mistakes.

Plumlee isn't the most exciting player in the world, but he could end up being mega-important for the Hornets if either Kalkbrenner or Diabate gets hurt.

Another player who could see time due to injuries is Peterson, who is the best two-way player on Charlotte's roster.

Wait your turn (4): Sion James, Antonio Reeves, K.J. Simpson, Tidjane Salaün

Reeves and Simpson are classic two-way players in the sense that they should see most of their minutes in the G League. Salaün should mostly play in the G, too, even if that's a surprising thing for some Hornets fans to hear.

James is already prepared to impact NBA games defensively, so there's reason for Lee to keep him close at hand during the regular season.

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