Can Hornets swarm to the playoffs? Charlotte's high-powered offense has created NBA's hottest team
The Hornets are now favored to make the playoffs, where they haven't been in 10 years
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4 min read
The Charlotte Hornets have the longest active winning streak in the NBA entering Monday night. It's a nine-game unbeaten run with wins against the Rockets, Spurs, Magic and 76ers. The latest win, a 126-119 victory over the Hawks, brought the Hornets to three games under .500 (25-28), and pulled them to three games back of the No. 7 spot in the Eastern Conference.
When they take on the top-seeded Pistons Monday night at home, they'll be doing so with fully packed media seating. If you want to know how well a team is doing in the NBA, you can sometimes judge it based on how many media members show up. Big-market teams generally draw a ton of media attention regardless of the results on the court. But for a small-market franchise like the Hornets, having a full house of media members means people are starting to pay attention.
That's for good reason, too. Currently, Charlotte's odds to make the playoffs (-132) are better than them missing (+100), per FanDuel, a surprising development given this team won just 19 games a season ago. But a lot has changed for the Hornets this season. LaMelo Ball is on pace to play the most games since his second year in the league. Brandon Miller is also healthy and leading Charlotte in scoring (20.3 points). Generally, the injury bug that swept through the Hornets' organization a season ago has not revisited them. Oh, and it also helps that Charlotte drafted perhaps the best shooting prospect since Stephen Curry in Kon Knueppel, who would be the Rookie of the Year favorite if it weren't for Cooper Flagg.
Charlotte's offense is experiencing a rejuvenation, one we haven't seen since the 2021-22 season where they won 43 games and almost made the playoffs after falling short in the play-in round. This time things are different, though. This isn't a team that's looking to run you to death like back then. The Hornets aren't a particularly remarkable transition team, in fact they rank near the bottom of the league in transition. They're not an overly aggressive defense that turns teams over at a high rate looking to create opportunities in transition.
No, instead the Hornets are winning by relying on their elite 3-point shooting, generating great looks with screens and ball movement. During this win streak, the Hornets rank first in offense, have the fifth-best defense and have the second-best 3-point shooting percentage in the league (39.9%).
That's a far cry from a year ago when despite taking the 11th-most 3s in the league, the Hornets ranked 28th in efficiency. The difference certainly is having guys like Ball and Miller healthy, but also the addition of Knueppel, who ranks third in 3-point percentage in the league among players who are taking at least five attempts per game and average 30 minutes a game. Yes, that's ahead of even Curry.
But the success is also happening because of the trio of Ball, Miller and Knueppel, all of whom can shoot 3s and put the ball on the deck to keep an offensive possession alive. You can see it on this early possession against a Hawks defense that employs several solid defenders.
Knueppel screens for Ball, and because of the danger Ball poses as a driver, both defenders commit to him. The defense collapses around Ball, leaving Miles Bridges open in the corner, who swings it back to Knueppel on the wing who drills a 3-pointer.
We're also seeing the tandem of Ball and Miller really flourish this season. Injuries have lengthened this rebuild, but with both healthy now, we're starting to see the potential of them playing off each other. Like Miller screening for Ball only to drill a difficult 3-pointer over Victor Wembanyama.
Charlotte has a versatile offense that sometimes requires the defense to pick its poison in what they're going to give up. Moussa Diabate has shown real growth as a pick-and-roll big man in his fourth season. He and rookie center Ryan Kalkbrenner are generating tons of second-chance opportunities for Charlotte's offense, which is why they rank fourth in that category.
After starting the season 9-20, the Hornets have since gone 16-8, which is the tied for the second-best record in the league with the Boston Celtics. They're risen through the bottom dwellers of the Eastern Conference and have carved a legitimate path to making the playoffs for the first time since 2016. That possibility was given a nice boost at the trade deadline when the Hornets acquired combo guard Coby White who will only add to the Hornets' growing depth of 3-point shooting. White is a career 36.8% 3-point shooter, and will fill a similar role that Collin Sexton did, whom Charlotte sent to Chicago in the trade. However, White is younger and is a more potent scorer who should be the perfect sixth man on this team, or fill in the starting lineup when needed.
It may still be going unnoticed, but the Hornets have quietly built out a roster complementary of Ball's skills, surrounding him with wings who can shoot, capable big men to hold down the paint and the spacing needed for him to work his magic. To think, just a few months ago there were conversations about Charlotte trading him. Now, it looks like everything is trending up for the Hornets, and in a weak Eastern Conference, they could certainly sneak in to secure a playoff spot when April rolls around.
