It's time to talk about the Hornets as a playoff team

Since 2016, eight different NBA teams have made the NBA Finals. Sixteen different teams have made the Conference Finals. Twenty different teams have made it to the Conference Semifinals. Twenty-nine different teams have made it to the playoffs in general.

In 2016, TikTok had yet to exist, Kobe Bryant was in his final season in the NBA, the iPhone 7 was Apple's newest model, LaMelo Ball was in high school, the 76ers were still in the midst of the process, the Celtics were led by Isaiah Thomas, Victor Wembanyama was 12 years old, the Chicago Cubs won their first World Series in 108 years, and the new Star Wars trilogy looked promising.

Since 2016, we've seen three different presidential terms, a global pandemic, Kemba Walker left, retired, and re-joined the Hornets as an assistant coach, LeBron James joined the Lakers, Tom Brady left the Patriots, Avengers Endgame became the highest grossing film ever, the NBA introduced the Play-In tournament, Taylor Swift dropped six albums and re-recorded her old ones, Artificial Intelligence appeared rapidly across the globe, and the new Star Wars trilogy was a large disappointent.

And yet, the Charlotte Hornets have not had a single playoff appearance.

It's been nine seasons since the Hornets appeared in the playoffs, the longest drought in franchise history. The team had gone through three different head coaches, two ownerships, two franchise players, and two different jerseys.

It's been a near-decade of heartbreak, anger, frustration, lottery prayers, rebuilds gone terribly wrong, false hope, meaningless Aprils, wasted seasons, draft busts, resets, and countless others. A 19-63 season should spell another few years of this process, yet, something is different this time.

For the first time in years, Hornets fans have looked at their roster and wholeheartedly believe they will contend for the postseason.

To the fans of the rest of the league, they've already penciled in the franchise to be in the AJ Dybantsa, Cam Boozer, Darryn Peterson race.

How did we get here?

In March 2024, the Hornets hired Brooklyn Nets assistant general manager Jeff Peterson to be the franchise's Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations.

“He shares our vision, our values and our goal of becoming the premier franchise in the NBA," Hornets Co-Chairmen Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin stated after hiring Peterson.

Jeff was the man for the job. During his time with the Nets, he was key in helping acquire Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Mikal Bridges, and Cam Johnson. He oversaw Brooklyn's college scouting department as well, and helped with drafting Nic Claxton, Day'Ron Sharpe, and Cam Thomas.

One month after the hiring, the Hornets announced head coach Steve Clifford would be stepping down as head coach, and moving into a front office role with the franchise. It was time for Peterson to get to work and hire the next head coach of the Charlotte Hornets.

After a month, the Hornets circled on their man: Boston Celtics lead assistant Charles Lee. Lee had won a title with the Milwaukee Bucks three years prior, and was en route to winning his second title, this time with the Celtics. He had been an assistant coach around the league for over a decade, primarily working under Mike Budenholzer with the Hawks and Bucks before working under Joe Mazzulla for a year.

The foundation was set. With a core of LaMelo Ball, Miles Bridges, Mark Williams, and Brandon Miller, the future of the Hornets was ready. Then the 2024-25 season hit, and it was a year to forget.

Tre Mann and Grant Williams' seasons were lost in November. Brandon Miller went down in January. LaMelo Ball was in and out of the lineup, and eventually was lost in March. They went 19-63, tied for the highest odds at 14% to land Duke superstar Cooper Flagg.

The team's bad luck continued, and the franchise fell down to the fourth overall pick in the draft.

In late June, the team made several moves to help: at pick four, the Hornets selected Duke's Kon Knueppel. They then dealt Mark Williams to the Phoenix Suns, landing them the 29th overall pick in the draft. With the pick, they selected UConn's Liam McNeeley. After having the third worst shooting in the entire league, the Hornets addressed their shooting issues with two of the draft's best shooters.

On the second night of the draft, the franchise selected another Duke starter at 33, guard Sion James. At 34, they helped address their center position, selecting Creighton star Ryan Kalkbrenner. Four new rookies to come in and immediately impact the Hornets in the now and in the future.

With free agency starting, the Hornets still had several things that needed to be addressed. The squad needed significant guard depth. With Tre Mann and LaMelo Ball out of the lineup, the Hornets were relying on rookie KJ Simpson and second year man Nick Smith Jr to hold down the guard position. They did just that, trading away Jusuf Nurkic to the Utah Jazz for Collin Sexton, a 6'6 guard who had just averaged 18.4 points a night. A few days later they continued adding to the depth, re-signing Tre Mann to a three year deal, and then signing free agent Spencer Dinwiddie to a one year deal.

After struggling with depth at the guard position, the Hornets were now in a surplus, with a trade of Nick Smith Jr likely on the horizon.

The center position was also in need of help. After the team dealt away Mark Williams and Jusuf Nurkic, the only centers on the roster were Moussa Diabate and Ryan Kalkbrenner. Diabate showed promise last season, however, his size project him as a forward in the long term. As for Kalkbrenner, the big man will likely need to spend some time with the Greensboro Swarm to work on his footwork and develop. The Hornets addressed the position in free agency, bringing back Mason Plumlee, who the team traded two years prior. While center help is still needed, Diabate and Kalkbrenner are both young and promising.

The squad made three other moves, acquiring Pat Connaughton from the Bucks, waiving Josh Okogie, and signing Drew Peterson to a two-way contract.

Hornets updated projected depth chart:

LaMelo Ball/Spencer Dinwiddie/Sion James/KJ Simpson

Colin Sexton/Tre Mann/Pat Connaughton/Nick Smith Jr/DaQuan Jeffries

Brandon Miller/Kon Knueppel/Josh Green/Liam McNeeley/Drew Peterson

Miles Bridges/Grant Williams/Tidjane Salaun…
— Owen O’Connor (@OwenOConnorNBA) July 15, 2025

In his second offseason, Jeff Peterson gave the Hornets their best depth in years. The fanbase believes the playoffs are on the horizon, yet, the rest of the league believes they are still ways away. Why?

19-63. When that record appears, it's hard to envision a team going from that to the playoffs. Despite that, the Detroit Pistons did it just this year, seeing a jump from 14 wins to 44 wins. A 30 win increase. The Hornets are in an interesting spot. They were never able to put their full, healthy squad on the court together. They were 3-32 with LaMelo Ball out. When (sort of) fully healthy to start the season, the squad was hovering around .500, with significantly worse depth than they have now.

With the season still months away, the Hornets have to move off of three players to get the roster down to 15. It means moves are still on the way.

With a war-chest of draft picks, plenty of young talent, and a new ownership/head coach/front office, what is truly stopping the Charlotte Hornets from becoming a perennial playoff team?

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