Gardner will start Friday against the Hornets, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports.
Gardner is getting a spot-start with both Norman Powell (groin) and Andrew Wiggins (knee) unavailable, and he'll be joined in the first unit by Davion Mitchell, Tyler Herro, Pelle Larsson and Bam Adebayo. Across four starts this season, Gardner has posted averages of 11.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.8 triples and 1.8 steals per contest.