Projecting the Charlotte Hornets 2026-27 Early-Season Rotation

One can quibble about the quality of the depth, but there's no arguing that the Charlotte Hornets have more NBA-level talent on their roster than they have in some time.

When attempting to project how Charles Lee will deploy that talent early in the season, it became clear to me that the Hornets have too many mouths to feed. I assumed a 10-man rotation for this exercise, which leaves rookie Hannes Steinbach, veteran Royce O'Neale, and intriguing second-year talent Liam McNeeley relegated to the bench.

Injuries will happen, performances will dip, and players will develop, meaning Lee will have to call on each of those three at some point this season. But for now, I'm leaving them out of Charlotte's day one rotation.

Of the three, Steinbach feels the most likely to play his way into early season minutes. However, he has a difficult job ahead of him if he wants to usurp one of the entrenched front court members (Naz Reid, Moussa Diabate, Grant Williams, and Ryan Kalkbrenner) slotted into the rotation.

Starting Five

Coby White: 30 minutes
Kon Knueppel: 31 minutes
Brandon Miller: 31 minutes
Naz Reid: 31 minutes
Moussa Diabate: 29 minutes

This is about in line with how many minutes each of Charlotte's starters played last season. I increased the number of minutes Coby White is projected to play (30) from the 28 LaMelo Ball averaged, because the Hornets shouldn't have to manage the veteran's playing time due to injury management like they did with Ball.

The other major jump is Moussa Diabate increasing from 26 minutes-per-game to 29 a night. Diabate proved in the second half of the 2025-26 season that he is a starting-caliber center who can handle a heavy workload from game-to-game.

My projections fall apart if Steinbach asserts himself early in the season. If the rookie plays his way into the rotation in the preseason, he'll assuredly eat into Moussa's minutes, as well as Ryan Kalkbrenner's. With four viable centers (if you include Naz Reid who will play some small ball five), Charles Lee will likely mix and match who's playing how much each night based on the matchup.

Bench Mob

Dennis Schroder: 20 minutes
Sion James: 15 minutes
Grayson Allen: 17 minutes
Grant Williams: 17 minutes
Ryan Kalkbrenner: 19 minutes

My main worry about this bench rotation is that there isn't enough shooting. All of Schroder, James, and Kalkbrenner are negative floor spacers, meaning the offense may get cramped if the Hornets run bench-heavy lineups.

That's how McNeeley and O'Neale can nudge their way into some playing time. If James' defensive acumen and connective tissue can't outweigh his lack of scoring punch, there is a chance Allen slides into the backup shooting guard (or point guard if Schroder has the same struggles) slot which would allow Liam and Royce some early playing time at the three.

What this exercise taught me is that there are innumerable lineup permutations available for Charles Lee to tinker with. My full minute-by-minute rotation projection is below, but it doesn't explore any small-ball five lineups, any Grayson Allen PG minutes, or any small roster tweaks that may happen between now and October.

Projection the Hornets 2026-27 early season rotation. — Hornets rotation projection | Matt Alquiza

How are you expecting the Hornets to line up on night one of the season?

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