Analyzing the Charlotte Hornets' Early NBA Draft Needs

With the NBA Draft Lottery still two weeks away and the draft night a little less than two months away, it fels like the perfect time to start analyzing the Charlotte Hornets' potential paths on draft night.

Armed with two first-round picks, Jeff Peterson will have adequate ammo to improve his roster by selecting a pair of rookies or making a deal for a proven veteran. If the draft were tomorrow, these are three things I would look to do if I were in Peterson's shoes.

1. Alleviate the Impending Roster Crunch

As we sit here in late April, I don't believe that the Hornets will make both of the first round picks they currently own. This is subject to change pending any pre-draft moves that include players currently on the roster, but those are nearly impossible to project at this point.

Assuming Charlotte re-signs Coby White this summer (which seems likely based on the team's messaging), they will have 13 rostered players, giving them room to add two more players to their 15-man roster before the season starts (not including Pat Connaughton who's contract has a team option for 2026-27). With the Hornets on the precipice of contention, it would feel counter-intuitive to add two more rookies to the fold in a year when the franchise is looking to climb up the Eastern Conference's hierarchy.

The best way for Charlotte to consolidate their two first-round picks is by doing one of the following: combine them to move up the board, use one (or both) of them to trade for an active player, swap one (or both) of them for multiple firsts in the future like we've seen Utah and Oklahoma City do.

I could be totally off base here because there is value in continuing to add cost-controlled young talent to a roster that will get very expensive when Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel's rookie extensions kick in. However, the Hornets still have a stockpile of future firsts to do that in later years.

If the team feels like 2026-27 is the year to strike while the iron is hot, then they should wield these picks to improve their roster outside of just bringing in two rookies.

2. Add Physicality

'Physicality' was the word of the day during the Hornets' exit interviews.

End-of-season losses to Detroit and Orlando exposed Charlotte's lack of physicality up and down the roster as the Hornets' fatal flaw. Charlotte boasts great positional size in their back court, but the lack of mass and height across the entirety of their starting five was too much to overcome against two teams that are currently intertwined in a first round NBA playoff bar fight.

There are a couple of players commonly mocked in the middle of the first round that will help this Hornets in this area: Morez Johnson Jr., Dailyn Swain, Aday Mara, Allen Graves, Koa Peat, and Jayden Quaintance to name a few.

As game slow down in the cruicible that is the NBA playoffs, finesse and skill take a backseat to IQ and physicality. In order for Charlotte to take the next step, they need to infuse their roster with players who can execute their free-flowing high-level offensive scheme and can also take and deliver the proverbial punch that Orlando hit them with in the Play-In Tournament.

3. Find Some Self-Created Two-Point Scoring

When considering Charlotte's struggles this season, I continue to come back to their reliance on the three-pointer. It's not inherently bad, but the Hornets need to develop a second pitch on offense.

None of the Hornets' three primary offensive engines, Ball, Knueppel, or Miller, are plus drivers and finishers. Coby White is the only guard/wing on the Hornets' roster who finished above-average among their peers in terms of rim attempt frequency and rim finishing percentage.

I'm still early in my process of scouting draft prospects, but the aforementioned Dailyn Swain, a wing from Texas, is one of this classes' premier two-point scorers who could be available in the middle of the first round. I continue to come back to Swain as the ideal target for Jeff Peterson when Charlotte is on the clock in round one. He dominated the SEC as a junior as a driver, finishing the season with an elite unassisted rim attempt rate, free throw rate, and true shooting percentage on two-point shots.

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