No All-Stars, No Problem: The Hornets’ Surge to Winning Basketball is More Important

The last thing the Charlotte Hornets need amidst a seven-game win streak is a distraction.

Fuel to the ever-growing Hornets fire, however? Charlotte and head coach Charles Lee will take all the NBA will give… even if by way of an Eastern Conference All-Star reserve snub.

Ultimately, the absence of a Hornets player came down to timing.

Hornets’ C Moussa Diabate was inserted permanently into the starting lineup on December 23rd, and the January onslaught that ensued by the Hornets’ starting lineup has been a month or so late for Charlotte to really garner fair consideration. It is important to remember this is a team that started 4-14.

While Indiana Pacers’ F Pascal Siakam has been the common fan rebuttal as to where a Hornet could’ve slotted in on the team:

Siakam has had the league-wide understanding that his team’s falter from last season’s NBA Finals run doesn’t rest on him alone. G Tyrese Halliburton’s injury has been factored into their struggles from game one.

Charlotte didn’t have that kind of benefit of the doubt to begin the year.

When you start in a way that resembles the stereotype most already had about you, the league doesn’t scrounge for extra context. There’s no slowing down to ask why the close losses happened or who was unavailable, or what was changing underneath the hood.

People simply move on— coaches vote early, narratives cement themselves fast, and once the All-Star conversations harden, late momentum rarely cracks it open. That’s the real story behind Charlotte’s All-Star absence.

If anything, the lack of an All-Star fits the moment of this win streak better than a token January-surge nod ever could. This isn’t a roster carried by one overwhelming resume.

It’s a team winning by committee that has slowly blossomed more with each game by buying into Charles Lee’s structure earlier than most young teams ever do.

Ball is still the gravitational center, but the wins haven’t required him to carry every possession or dominate every night— in fact, the January Hornets have benefited from less of the former. It’s been his commitment to the extra pass and defense on top of the gravity he creates that has spurred this run.

Not to mention recently touted Eastern Conference player of the week Brandon Miller, the rookie of the year candidate Kon Knueppel, and Diabate in their own rights. Yet, none of the individual starting lineup members' success has happened without the contribution of the other four around them.

That kind of collective team rise is hard to summarize in a single All-Star bullet point. It doesn’t fit neatly into the way the league prefers to reward individuals.

Charlotte doesn’t offer that convenience for voters’ ease. This team’s win streak has asked the league, its media, and fans to notice change as an organization, not just as one player’s success.

An All-Star selection would’ve been nice— it also would’ve been premature. This Hornets team isn’t chasing individual milestones right now; it’s chasing proof of concept.

If Charlotte keeps playing this way into the second half of the season? The recognition will come later, when it actually means something. Not as a consolation prize for a hot month, but as confirmation that the foundation is real through a play-in or playoff berth.

No All-Stars in Charlotte this year? Fine.

The Hornets look like they’re building something that lasts longer than one weekend, anyway.

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