Hornets Crash and Burn in NBA Power Rankings After LaMelo Ball, Miles Bridges Trades

At the end of last season, the Charlotte Hornets had really ascended into a tier of NBA teams they haven't been in for decades, maybe ever. They hovered around the top 10 in plenty of power rankings for a while before finally passing that elusive threshold.

It seemed that offseason was initially going to be about building on that. Given how well they performed, any positive move (such as re-signing Coby White or drafting Hannes Steinbach) was supposed to reinforce that they'd finally arrived.

The Hornets were a top-10 team.

Then, the front office decided to pivot and trade LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges, 40% of the NBA's best five-man lineup last season. It was surprising, but what isn't surprising is that they're worse now. This was meant to be a future-oriented shift.

But in the meantime, the Hornets did get worse. They have more depth, but they don't have a top-tier guy anymore, and they don't have a player that can really tie everything together like Ball did. As a result, they have cratered out of that top-10 region in the latest NBA power rankings.

The Athletic's Law Murray ranked all teams by tiers, and the Hornets were the first team in the "not the tier to fear" club. They ranked 19th overall, a far cry from where they were at the end of the season, which inspired so much hope.

Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) and Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball (1) battle | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Murray noted that Ball, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Jaylen Brown all got traded. Now, Ball is not on the same level as those two, but he is a player who commands a ton of attention and makes life easier, something he should know from having coached both Brown and Antetokounmpo before Ball.

"Hornets head coach Charles Lee was with all three players along his coaching journey. He should know the value of a player who commands significant attention and makes the game easier for teammates. Lee must find a way to account for that," Murray wrote.

Murray admitted that they may have reached the peak of the Ball era, so trading him isn't the most nonsensical thing in the world. But there's a new task ahead, and it's a difficult one.

"Depth is not a problem in Charlotte. Coby White is the new starting point guard, and Brandon Miller will get to show he can be at the top of the food chain... Now, the Hornets have to show they can carry over the same success they had in the second half of last season without Ball," he wrote.

So, for now, the Hornets are worse. They're not a team to fear after being a team that many believed was a fearsome threat to top playoff teams last season. Whether the future will be brighter is impossible to say, but for now, the present is a little dimmer.

And for what it's worth, Ball's new team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, ranked ninth, a spot the Hornets might've been around had they kept Ball and maybe Bridges.

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