All Hornets

Famous sports radio host drags Hornets, calls them one of the most 'irrelevant franchises'

It's only four games into the season, and the Hornets are already catching strays.
Schuyler Callihan|
Oct 17, 2025; New York, New York, USA; Charlotte Hornets Head Coach Charles Lee looks on during the first half against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
Oct 17, 2025; New York, New York, USA; Charlotte Hornets Head Coach Charles Lee looks on during the first half against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

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Charlotte Hornets

It's been a decade since the Charlotte Hornets played postseason basketball, and by that, I mean the kind that the NBA considers actual postseason play... not the play-in tournament. It's been a rough 10 years full of swings and misses in the draft, multiple front office regimes, coaching firings/hirings, and a laundry list of injuries.

Unfortunately for the fine folks in the Queen City, that's pretty much been the story for this organization since its inception.

Yesterday morning, the Hornets were ripped apart by famous sports radio host Dan Le Batard, although the season is just four games young.

“Charlotte is as irrelevant a sports franchise as there is anywhere in sports. Never been to the Eastern Conference Finals as a franchise. You want to guess the last time they won a playoff series? Anybody want to guess they won a playoff game? That is 2015, so ten years since they won a playoff game, but go ahead and guess the last time they won a playoff series. I think in the year 2002 with Jamal Mashburn. I’ll go ahead and ask the room, do you want to guess the name of their coach? It’s just a guy named Charlie. Charles Lee, it’s just some dude named Charlie. He’s in his second year… the second year of Charles Lee produces a Charlotte basketball team that has LaMelo Ball and little else.”

The sad truth is, it's hard to argue against his take. The Pittsburgh Pirates (MLB) are awful and have been for a long, long time, but they have five World Series titles. The Cleveland Browns (NFL) are about as close as you'll get in another sport, but even they've had more postseason success than the Hornets, although much of it happened in the 20th century.

As bad as the Hornets have been, this feels like an odd time to talk about them, or any team for that matter, in that manner. The past can't be changed, I get that, but the 2025-26 season is one week old, and so far, the Hornets have turned some heads around the NBA. Beating Brooklyn and Washington isn't going to have anyone believing this is the year things turn around, but the play of their rookies and a healthy LaMelo Ball should give fans hope.

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Schuyler Callihan
SCHUYLER CALLIHAN

Schuyler Callihan is the publisher of West Virginia On SI and has been a trusted source covering the Mountaineers since 2016. He is the host of Between The Eers, The Walk Thru Game Day Show, and In the Gun Podcast. The Wheeling, WV native moved to Charlotte, North Carolina in 2020 to cover the Charlotte Hornets and Carolina Panthers.

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