How the Hornets passed the more-hyped Magic in the East

You might be asking yourself: What do the Charlotte Hornets have to do with the Orlando Magic?

At this juncture, both are 40-36 in the East. Charlotte currently owns the tiebreaker between the two teams, who are both a half-game above the Miami Heat, the No. 10 seed.

That said, while identical, they're very different 40-win teams. Charlotte's experienced a meteoric rise, while the Magic have tripped on their own shoelaces the whole season. How has that happened? Here are a few reasons as to why.

Good point guard play:

Magic Hornets — Mar 31, 2026; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball (1) brings the ball up court against the Brooklyn Nets during the third quarter at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

I'll be front and center: I haven't always been LaMelo Ball's fan. Although I think it's fair to acknowledge that, while his numbers are down, he's had one of, if not his most impactful season as a pro.

He's averaging 19.6 points and 7.1 assists, looking more comfortable in a role where he's taken a backseat role in usage relative to the previous two seasons. At the very least, he's operated Charlotte's spaced, efficient scheme fairly well.

Ball's quickly developed chemistry with Kon Knueppel, as well as continuing to build chemistry with Brandon Miller and Miles Bridges, forming one of the league's most lethal attacks. While Jalen Suggs has shown flashes of it, the Magic have lacked legitimately good point guard for some time, leading to a ceiling that's average-at-best when it's clicking on all cylinders.

Spacing, spacing and more spacing!:

Hornets Magic — Mar 24, 2026; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Charlotte Hornets guard/forward Kon Knueppel (7) drives to the basket guarded by Sacramento Kings center Maxime Raynaud (42) during the second half at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

It helps when you have two top-4 picks in three years -- and three in six years. Although the Magic did have three-straight top-6 draft picks from 2021-23 (with two more top-11 picks in that span), including the No. 1 pick in 2022, where it drafted Paolo Banchero.

The difference is the Hornets built a roster -- and scheme -- with quality spacing. The Magic have not.

Kon Knueppel's helped quell a lot of those struggles. But Miller and Grant Williams have both stayed healthy; and the additions of Collin Sexton -- who they acquired, with a second-round pick, for Jusuf Nurkic last summer -- and Coby White (trade deadline) were two key boosts to the team's 3-point shooting.

A scheme where ball and player movement buoyed the Hornets' offense. The Magic don't have that, forcing the likes of Paolo Banchero and Desmond Bane to create off the bounce where three or four guys are likely standing around watching. There's too much stagnation, evidently leading to poor spacing and, thus, poor offensive output.

Collective buy-in on both sides:

The Hornets have made myriad moves around the fringes -- such as Moussa Diabate, Josh Green, Grant Williams, and the draft choices of Ryan Kalkbrenner plus Sion James -- to infuse some two-way versatility into the team's core.

The Magic also have some of that scalability. Though they don't quite have the collective buy-in; Jamahl Mosley's voice has appeared to ring hollow, while Charles Lee's voice has grown louder. Charlotte looks completely bought in. Conversely, Orlando looks bought out.

Yet, here we are, where both teams have scraped 40 wins with less than two weeks left. However, much like the Magic were just two seasons ago, the trajectory for the Hornets is rising, while it's plummeting for the Magic.

And they will need to look at themselves quite hard in the mirror and have some very difficult conversations if they want to get back to that territory.

Good point guard play:

Spacing, spacing and more spacing!:

Collective buy-in on both sides:

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