Projecting Final Hornets' Lineup and Rotation (with Minutes) Ahead of Season

The Charlotte Hornets are, stop me if you've heard this before, not remotely fully healthy coming into the season. The preseason was harsh, as the Hornets lost Kon Knueppel, Grant Williams, and Coby White for the entire thing (and others missed some time) and went 1-3.

They're not healthy now, but they will be. And when they are, they will have depth like never before. They may be lacking in top-end talent after trading LaMelo Ball, but they're not lacking in depth at most positions. They are deep.

How will they line up? And how will the rotation look when Charles Lee has all of those weapons at his disposal? Ahead of this week's season opener (which will probably not have Williams, Knueppel, or White available), I took a stab at what the Hornets might do with all their players.

Starting Five

When healthy, I believe the Hornets will trot out this starting five:

Coby White, PG
Kon Knueppel, SG
Brandon Miller, SF
Naz Reid, PF
Moussa Diabaté, C

It is hard to determine what the Hornets will do with Diabaté and Hannes Steinbach. It is possible that, like last year, Diabaté starts out like Ryan Kalkbrenner did before being replaced. And it's possible that Steinbach earns the spot before White and Knueppel return.

However, for now, I believe this is what Charles Lee and company would pencil in if everyone were available. There's no reason to move Diabaté to the bench yet after an excellent year as a starter in 2025-26.

Rotation

Scotty Pippen Jr. (1) drives to the basket as Charlotte Hornets guard Liam McNeeley (33) and guard Christian Anderson (5) defend | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

With that in mind, the Hornets have several players who could justifiably be the first player off the bench. But if Steinbach remains close to starting, one would have to imagine he'd be the sixth man for now.

Regardless, here's how the second unit will likely look:

Dennis Schröder, PG
Grayson Allen, SG
Sion James, SF
Grant Williams, PF
Hannes Steinbach, C

Impressively, that's not the entirety of the reserves the Hornets could reasonably use. Royce O'Neale, Ryan Kalkbrenner, Tidjane Salaün, and Christian Anderson Jr. could warrant plenty of minutes as well.

Minutes

Charles Lee had one hand tied behind his back with rotations last year because he had to try to keep LaMelo Ball and others healthy. It worked, but nobody really played big minutes. Unfortunately, seeing how the preseason went, the training wheels, so to speak, may not be off.

Here's how it will probably go with rough estimates of minutes played:

Coby White: 30 minutes
Kon Knueppel: 33 minutes
Brandon Miller: 34 minutes
Naz Reid: 32 minutes
Moussa Diabaté: 27 minutes
Hannes Steinbach: 25 minutes
Sion James: 17 minutes
Dennis Schröder: 15 minutes
Grayson Allen: 19 minutes
Grant Williams: 16 minutes
Royce O'Neale: 7 minutes
Tidjane Salaün: 8 minutes
Christian Anderson Jr.: 5 minutes
Liam McNeeley: 8 minutes
Ryan Kalkbrenner: 11 minutes

Charles Lee obviously has plenty of ways to mix and match and allocate the 48 minutes of an NBA game.

Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter for the latest news and updates on the Charlotte Hornets

Add us as a preferred source on Google