Hornets head coach Charles Lee talks Ryan Kalkbrenner's eye-popping start

Charlotte Hornets rookie center Ryan Kalkbrenner has been one of the NBA’ most pleasant surprises to begin the 2025-26 season. The former Creighton Bluejays center has averaged 9.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks for the Hornets while averaging 26.6 minutes per game.

Kalkbrenner earned a starting spot in Hornets head coach Charles Lee's rotation before Opening Night tipped off, and the big man has done nothing but reward that decision in the nine games since.

Lee spoke this week about Kalkbrenner's awesome start to the season.

Hornets head coach Charles Lee praises Ryan Kalkbrenner

"It's been fun to watch him," Lee said. "We knew what we were gonna get when we drafted Ryan (Kalkbrenner)."

"He continues to impress defensively, contesting at the rim, helping us dominate or protect the paint, and then offensively his screening assists, his ability to offensive rebound and keep possessions alive or get us other possessions, and his ability to finish above the rim on some of these lobs ... (gives us) a dual threat."

🎙️ Charles Lee: "It's been fun to watch him. We knew what we were gonna get when we drafted Ryan (Kalkbrenner)."

"He continues to impress defensively, contesting at the rim, helping us dominate or protect the paint, and then offensively his screening assists, his ability to… pic.twitter.com/syb0DEvfKN
— r/CharlotteHornets (@HornetsReddit) November 8, 2025

"I love his basketball IQ to understand where (he needs) to be in the dunker (spot) to receive passes from guys," Lee continued. "Our players feel really confident throwing him the ball because they love his hands."

Kalkbrenner has certainly made president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson look like a wise man for drafting him at No. 34 overall in the 2025 NBA Draft.

It's also not a stretch to assume that at least a handful of teams are already regretting passing on Kalkbrenner in the draft.

It's still curious to wonder why Kalkbrenner fell as low as he did. Perhaps teams were turned off by his less-than-elite athleticism, but Kalkbrenner's dominance in college and his continual improvement under Greg McDermott should have been a sign to GMs that Kalkbrenner is a valuable asset who is going to maximize his talent and size, which are considerable.

Kalkbrenner is already looking like a young Brook Lopez, and he hasn't even started attempting jumpers yet for Charlotte to any consistent degree, which he's capable of integrating at a later date.

The Hornets got a good one in Kalkbrenner. They completely aced the 2025 draft.

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