Can Charlotte Finally Change Their NBA Draft Lottery Luck?

The Charlotte Hornets have been anything but lucky since the team’s inception in 1988.

Nothing has symbolized that bad luck more than the NBA Draft Lottery since Charlotte basketball returned to the city as the Bobcats.

It’s been over 20 years since Charlotte basketball returned in ‘04 as the Bobcats, and the poor draws of these past two decades leave you forgetful that the original Hornets had luck on their side much more often.

The only two times these modern Hornets and Bobcats have gotten lucky enough to move up from their anticipated lottery drawing?

Those two jumps ended in drafting LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller. Charlotte moved up two spots in 2023 to land Brandon Miller No. 2 behind Victor Wembanyama, and had moved up five spots more than expected to get Ball at No. 3 overall.

Between 1988 and 2002, before the original Hornets departed for New Orleans, the Hornets moved four or more spots from their most likely draft lottery landing zone THREE different times.

So, in 14 seasons, those original Hornets had more lottery luck with those three jump-ups than the current Bobcats/Hornets have had in 22 seasons.

Surely the bow is bound to break as it has already begun with LaMelo and Brandon, right?

Right?

When the Hornets needed that luck in those original years the most, like they now need lottery luck in 2026 due to a talented young core – they got it via Baron Davis.

While back-to-back lottery jumps in 1991 and 1992 led to Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning, Davis’ draft selection in 1999 is the one that is most forgotten…

It’s the one that led to the best Hornets season in history, if you measure by playoff success instead of wins; The 2000-2001 Hornets led by a sophomore Davis and Jamal Mashburn took the Hornets to seven games against Milwaukee in the East Semifinals.

Right before Davis, though, after the 1998-1999 lockout season was over, the Hornets had essentially gotten off one of the biggest rollercoasters of a season that this team has ever seen…

And we’re talking about a franchise that won seven games in a season once here.

15 games into the lockout-shortened season before Davis was drafted, following a 4-11 start, NBA Coach of the Year winner and back-to-back 50-win season achiever Dave Cowens resigned.

The Hornets were in turmoil, to say the least, but the locker room understood exactly why Cowens walked away.

It wasn’t exactly a secret.

Former Charlotte Hornets owner George Shinn, in typical fashion, refused to accommodate Cowens with a pay raise; Cowens was the lowest-paid coach in the entire NBA during his consecutive 50-win campaigns.

Following Cowens’ resignation, out the door from Charlotte to Los Angeles went Glen Rice for Elden Campbell and Eddie Jones, and into the locker room entered the late, great head coach Paul Silas.

Silas may have been one of the only head coaches in the league at this time who could’ve righted the ship in the manner he did with just 35 games remaining.

Charlotte would finish the year 22-13 after that 4-11 start thanks to Silas and the leadership the likes of Elden Campbell brought to the room to combine with an already present Bobby Phills.

The Hornets would fall just one game behind New York’s record for the eighth seed, and ended the ‘98-’99 season two games out of taking eighth from the Knicks outright (NYK owned the tiebreaker). Had it not been for some lost leads down the stretch of that year, they likely would’ve taken it.

But it wouldn’t have led to Baron Davis.

The Hornets would finish with the best record of the non-playoff teams, and only had the 14th-best lottery odds in 1999 after the aforementioned shortened season was over. For reference, Charlotte had a FIVE in 1,000 chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick.

They got No. 3 instead after the Hornets received their biggest lottery odds jump in franchise history; it remains the largest throughout both iterations of the franchise.

Charlotte could absolutely use this same luck in 2026, and they need it now in 2026 just as badly as they did in 1999. There’s certainly not as much turmoil heading into this summer as there was 27 years ago…

But the situation feels familiar, because this team is right on the precipice of something special, just as they were then. A Davis’ draft, one season, and one trade with Miami later? Charlotte was right on the verge of what would’ve been their only Eastern Conference Finals appearance in team history.

All it takes is a little bit of help from some ping pong balls, and we may see a really similar timeline for the Hornets of today.

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