Charlotte Hornets 2026 NBA Draft Big Board Version 2.0

The NBA Draft is almost here, folks.

After crowning the New York Knicks as NBA champions for the first time in 53 years, the basketball populus can now turn their focus to the June 23rd draft and fully dive in to this intriguing group of prospects that may define championship teams for years to come.

The Charlotte Hornets own the 14th and 18th overall picks in this draft, providing Jeff Peterson an opportunity to reshape his roster and continue the franchise's ascent up the Eastern Conference.

This will be my final Big Board of the draft process (you can find version 1.0 here) and will serve as my official rankings of prospects when looking at this class through purple and teal tinted glasses.

(Note: These rankings will be leaving out the top eight prospects in the class that are highly unlikely to be available when Charlotte picks: Boozer, Wilson, Peterson, Dybantsa, Acuff, Wagler, Flemings, andBrown Jr.).

Charlotte Hornets Big Board

1. Yaxel Lendeborg

I understand the concerns about Yaxel, and frankly, the intel swirling around him continues to point to the super-senior slipping into the back half of the lottery come draft night. B/R's Jonathan Wasserman cited "...rumors about Yaxel Lendeborg not finishing workouts due to either conditioning or the leg injury suffered during the season."

Folks have pointed to that statement and ruled out the idea of Lendeborg landing in Charlotte due to the franchise's emphasis on competition and in-house workouts, which isn't totally unfair. However, if Lendeborg is still rehabilitating from a late-season knee injury, it would be silly to hold that against him at this juncture. On the flip side, maybe he'll garner some goodwill for attempting to gut out workouts even though he's not 100%.

We're not in the room when the workouts happen, so the recent reports from Wasserman and earlier ones from Kevin O'Connor aren't disqualifying in my opinion.

Lendeborg is a ready-made NBA power forward who possesses the type of connective tissue that Charles Lee and Jeff Peterson adore. His willingness to attend a loaded Michigan team and play a specific role is a point in his favor, and that one season that culminated in a national championship for the Wolverines is enough for me to rank him as the Hornets' top draft target.

2. Brayden Burries

Burries could be included in the cast of characters that project to be out of the Hornets' draft range, but there is enough of a chance of a draft night slip for him to be included in my rankings.

The fit in Charlotte would be a bit awkward (assuming the team retains Coby White), but if Burries is available at #14, his skill set may be too good for the Hornets to pass up. Burries is a supremely talented scoring prospect who prioritizes the right play over the flashy one. He is a talented three-point shooter and physical downhill driver that, on the right night, somewhat resembles Coby White.

The 21-year-old freshman has all of the qualities an NBA offense covets in a secondary creator, and if Charlotte wants to go all-in on offense and attempt to win games by running up scoreboards Monstars style, Burries would be an awesome player to bring into the building. Not to mention, Burries' play-in, play-out tenacity and 'dawg' scream Hornets DNA to me.

3. Morez Johnson Jr.

Speaking of Hornets DNA, Johnson Jr. oozes it.

He is currently both a NCAA National Champion and a FIBA U19 champion, and Johnson made an indelible impact on both of those title-winning teams. He is a bruising power forward/center who excels on the margins, and would come to Charlotte and provide high-level defensive versatility while impacting the possession game on the glass.

The Hornets desparately need to add physicality to the building, and Johnson would do just that.

4. Hannes Steinbach
5. Aday Mara

This is probably my biggest deviation from consensus.

I understand the hype around Aday Mara -- 7'4" centers who can pass, move, and defend like him are exceedingly rare. On the other hand, I worry about Mara's conditioning levels when he reaches the NBA, and I do think his slight frame could get exposed by professionals who play with supreme physicality on the glass...

...like Steinbach. Hannes Steinbach was a top-ten rebounder in the German professional league as a teenager and he continued to dominate that facet of the game in his lone season at the University of Washington. If Charlotte's interest in Domantas Sabonis was real, I could see them drafting the Gen-Z version of him in Steinbach.

6. Dailyn Swain
7. Cameron Carr

I've flipped these two dozens of times over the last few months, but have decided to land on Swain ahead of Carr due to his ability to pressure the rim. The questions about Swain revolve around his jump shot and decision-making, and while they are well-founded, I believe Charlotte's offensive eco-system that should open up driving lanes for the skilled ball handler will mitigate those early in his career as he rounds out the finer edges of his game. The Hornets don't employ a wing like Swain, and the diversity he'd bring their offense would be a breath of fresh air.

Drafting Carr, on the other hand, would be Charlotte doubling down on their strengths. A long, explosive athlete who can shoot the cover off the ball, Carr should walk into the NBA as a microwave scoring option off the bench on day one of his career. The Hornets have placed a premium on shooting in recent transaction windows, and if they want to continue to lead the league in three-point rate, adding Carr to their wing room would do just that.

8. Ebuka Okorie

If you've read or listened to any of my pre-draft work this ranking of Okorie won't come as a surprise. I am a huge fan of his ability to put pressure on the rim and a firm believer that he possesses all of the qualities a small guard needs to succeed in the NBA.

9. Jayden Quaintance

There are just far too many questions about the long-term stability of Quaintance's knee for me to place him any higher than this. He made his bones as a hyper-athletic, game-wrecking defender as a teenager in the Big 12, and if he even loses 5% of his other-worldly mobility, it becomes difficult to see him making that same level of impact at the professional level.

If Quaintiance is given a clean bill of health, he'll jump up a few spots into the Mara/Steinbach tier due to his All-Defense potential. However, the questions about his knee and the assumed difficulty he'll having impacting the game on offense in the NBA make me comfortable with potentially underrating the young big man.

10. Koa Peat

Every team needs a player like Koa Peat. A versatile, hard-nosed, physical wing that can thrive without the ball on offense and not be a liability on defense. Combine those trats with Peat's pre-college pedigree, and you have an intriguing, malleable prospect that does fit neatly with Charlotte's core players.

11. Karim Lopez
12. Nate Ament
13. Allen Graves
14. Bennett Stirtz
15. Labaron Philon
16. Christian Anderson

It wouldn't take much convincing to get me to believe in any of these prospects if they do wind up in Charlotte. I do think there is a world in which Charlotte trades back out of 18 (especially if either Carr or Swain are still available as this class is thin on wings) and selects one player in this group (particularly Graves) somewhere in the early-mid 20s.

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