My big picture, Weekly State of the Hive Address:

If Optimus Prime played basketball, surely he was a center, right? Although centers aren’t often a team’s floor general like Prime was for the Autobots. Maybe he was a point guard stuck in a 6-foot-8 frame, like LaMelo Ball. We’ll never know.

If you can’t tell, my hyper-fixation on the Transformers franchise has run deep recently.

And *no* — it’s not because of Megan Fox.

If anything, I would’ve been better off lying to you all that it was.

It’s a lot better than publicly admitting it was because of a comic book instead of Megan Fox on a Camaro. Well, the ACTIVE iteration of my fixation, at least.

After all, I’m bringing up the exact same scene you thought about, for a reason. I had my days with the Michael Bay Transformers movies.

Good films. Respectable because of the IP. The 1st movie carried the franchise heavily…

But ultimately, whatever you think of the Bay movie franchise, people showed up to watch all of them because of the first one, and how it made them feel.

Well, for a way-too-long portion of my life, I kept showing up for Michael Jordan and the basketball team he owned and hoped he would make me feel, well, anything.

Like the first Bay movie — Megan Fox on a Camaro’s effect on young men everywhere, and the CGI in that movie being *way* ahead of its time — Michael Jordan’s first dosie-doh with the NBA left him with three championships.

Jordan’s second stint left him with three more championships, NBA Immortality, and a weird little blip in Washington that Kwame Brown would likely agree may have been better off forgotten.

Sure, Jordan scored 50+ with the Wiz. That little tiny robot in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was also pretty funny… Sometimes. But the two twin robot ones were… Awfully offensive. We all just agree not to talk about the plot holes in Revenge of the Fallen. Jordan agrees not to talk about Kwame and Washington. Same energy.

By the time Jordan did his victory tour, retired, and celebrated for a few years? Those few years before hard are his Transformers: Dark of the Moon. That movie is pretty good.

It’s certainly not as crass as Revenge of the Fallen was.

You’d have to imagine that: right on the cusp of owning an NBA team, before all that responsibility, that guy MJ was living the LIFE. So was Michael Bay after three movies. Not many movie franchises, outside of books, get trilogies in the end.

Just like I wanted for Michael Bay, I wish Jordan would’ve stopped at his Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and kept living his victory tour of NBA superstardom in retirement rather than pursue ownership.

Instead, Michael Bay had to go and make Transformers: The Last Knight (real-time ADHD writing interruption: it is increasingly strange the longer I write this, how similar this really is to MJ, lol).

Michael Jordan did his version of The Last Knight and had to buy the Bobcats’ majority stake.

And JUST LIKE MICHAEL BAY’S movie franchise’s perception to the public changed as a whole because of Transformers: The Last Knight, the way Michael Jordan’s majority ownership tenure ended has changed the discourse surrounding MJ’s entire career and relationship with the NBA forever.

It was that bad. What was Mark Wahlberg there for? Why did MJ buy a team when he didn’t want to pay new staff members who would want more money? The world may never know the answer to either of those questions.

Why did we stain the beautiful picture most people STILL have painted of you in their head as the NBA GOAT, MJ?

I don’t know. It’s as inexplicable as why Michael Bay would ever try to top what he accomplished with the CGI and cultural phenomena that WAS the first Transformers movie.

That was a lot of shade just on MJ, just to contradict myself from the beginning and tell you that, yes, in fact, my first experience with Transformers was the movies.

Clearly, because I’ve seen them enough to compare Michael Jordan to Michael Bay as much as I have (have you ever watched a preacher hammer in the same point for far too long? Ultimately, it works! This is called a sermon for a reason, and I’m from the South…).

But recently — to reference the beginning of this for the last time — I’ve been reading Image Comics’ Transformers series.

Before I tie this all into the Hornets:

I have to inform you all, that bro to bro? You have to go find them and read them. They’re so good. It’s what’s brought me back down this rabbit hole of Transformers, as a whole. I would’ve never considered watching the old-school cartoon for this franchise until I read them.

But I watched the 1st episode on YouTube recently and will likely end up watching the rest now, too. The comic… It’s just impeccable stuff. Couldn’t recommend it more. Comics keep me reading at a REALLY consistent level, and make it way easier to pick up novels. Even if I read the novels more slowly. Anyway. Hornets.

So, you remember how Bumblebee was the centerpiece of the Bay Transformers movies?

Well, by the SECOND page in the first Transformers comic book:

Bumblebee is shown to be brutally murdered. The metal on his face is all torn in. There is literally no facial expression visible.

The writers did something I ADORED, by immediately telling you, the reader — “This **** is NOT about Bumblebee. We’re not even giving you the chance to think it will be.”

It’s still not about him; I’m active with the comic now. Bumblebee was shown like 3 issues ago, dead again, and literally had exposition written for Optimus to tell somebody else who asked, “No, we cannot revive Bumblebee — his spark is beyond repair.” (Autobots had resources to do so at that time in the book, natural moment of wonder for the reader).

That’s how much they wanted you to know this was a unique story, one that finally gave other characters from the Transformers universe a spotlight. Those who hadn’t seen it yet, on a high level, b/c the movies excluded them, didn’t do their characters justice, etc.

Cliffjumper. Wheeljack. Soundwave. Hound. The whole comic series is a shared universe with G.I. Joe (it’s so damn good, y’all, I’m telling you), so naturally, the Army Jeep Transformer, Hound, is the first Transformer shown in the separate G.I. Joe book.

It does the source material justice.

And because I am who I am, it’s reminded me an awful lot of the Charlotte Hornets.

See, I made my MJ comparisons.

There’s a reason he’s nowhere to be found amidst my explanation for the comics, how good they are, or their storyline.

Because the new and improved Transformers? The best content in the franchise since… maybe ever.

The creators of that book and the people behind them at Image comics, Daniel Warren Johnson (Do a Powerbomb!, Extremity) and Robert Kirkman (created The Walking Dead, Invincible, and more)…

To me, those two guys’ work reinventing Transformers and the franchise’s perception resembles what our new organization has become. Jeff Peterson. Charles Lee. Gabe Plotkin. Rick Schnall.

What made me think of this long-winded anecdotal metaphor, to begin with:

Our new main Hornets guys in charge, just like the creators of the new Tranformers comics — they killed Bumblebee.

They murdered the ways of MJ ownership, and they did it early.

Through their actions, they let ALL of us know pretty quickly — “Hey, this is NOT a story of bad ownership again. We mean what we told you when we first got here.”

I think all the time about how the Charlotte Hornets ownership group has done that very thing and killed the Hornets’ franchise’s (ALL pun intended, who do you think I am?) Bumblebee.

With a must-win season on the line, we’ll have to see this offseason if Bumblebee will REMAIN dead.

Is the spark of Jordan still alive? Will they botch the opportunity in front of them and sign 2026’s Lance Stephenson, succumbing to Megatron?

We don’t know for sure yet.

I had to wait 30 issues from the second page of issue 1 to find out if Bee’s spark was ever going to be repairable. But I did inevitably find out he was gone for good.

It’s not Jeff’s 30th issue, but it is his third offseason now, and it’s finally time to get some finality on whether Bumblebee — i.e., the ways of Michael Jordan — will remain dead for good.

Peterson and the Hornets’ summer moves this year, with so much momentum in their hands after ‘25-‘26, will give us that answer once and for all, I believe.

I hope Jeff is as tired as I was of seeing that yellow Camaro driving around during the early 2010’s.

The last two sections of Owen Watterson’s weekly three-segment column will be available at 5:00 PM EST on The Saturday Stinger Substack.

Join us in the SportCLT Discord for the second showing of “Hornets Rewind!” A series hosted by the Hornets Historian himself, Owen Watterson, where he takes us back to the 90s to check out full-length retro Hornets games.

This series is exclusive to SportCLT, and you can’t find these games anywhere else on the internet.

“Hornets Rewind” will take place a…

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The Charlotte Hornets hold two top-20 picks, and among the most mocked players to the 14th pick specifically is Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg.

Lendeborg will be a case study for NBA teams moving forward. He will be 23.7 years old on draft night, is a noted late-bloomer when it comes to basketball, and improved significantly in each of his three division-I college basketball seasons.

The landscape of college basketball has changed in a way that’s advantageous for players. They can now make money on their name, image, and likeness despite playing in the NCAA.

This has changed the way players approach making the decision to go to the NBA. Draft classes as a whole are getting older as more players that would typically declare for the draft are heading staying at school for additional years.

Lendeborg himself would have been a top-40 pick had he declared for the 2025 NBA Draft.

Instead, he transferred from UAB to Michigan an won National Player of the Year, a National Championship, and helped drive his stock from that top-40 projection all the way into the lottery.

But along with taking a player like Lendeborg comes the notion of him being “pro-ready”.

And it’s a thought that isn’t without merit. Common sense says that players who are older when they are drafted should transition easier to the NBA game. They’re more physically and mentally matured, and should be able to step in as role players right away.

But is that actually true for these super-seniors? Are most of them actually “ready-made” role players? Or is the line a bit more blurred?

I dove into all of the players drafted top-20 since 2010 that were at least 23.0 years old on draft night, and whether they impacted winning from their first year in the league.

Dalton Knecht, Los Angeles Lakers

Rookie Season Stats: 78 GP | 19 MIN | 9 P | 3 R | 1 A | BPM -1.8 | 46/37/76 splits

Dalton Knecht was the 17th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, and he averaged nearly 22 points per game in his final college basketball season at Tennessee on 46/40/77 shooting splits.

The status of Knecht’s age was a big pre-draft discussion. He played at a junior college prior to his time at Northern Colorado, then transferred to Tennessee for his final college season.

Knecht had more lagged development than anything else. He made a big leap in his junior year at Northern Colorado, but was a fairly insignificant role player before that.

Knecht, a 6-foot-6 wing, was viewed as a ready-made role player that can space the floor and make open shots.

Here’s a post-draft excerpt from Sporting News on Knecht’s profile at the time the Lakers selected him:

“Knecht is as NBA-ready as any player in this class and he lands with a team that is looking to win now. He’s a three-level scorer and excellent 3-point shooter who will make a killing on catch-and-shoot opportunities playing off of LeBron James and Anthony Davis.”

And as a rookie, there were some flashes of that. Knecht had some occasional scoring outbursts, but his overall impact was inconsistent at best.

By the time the playoffs rolled around, Knecht was not a rotational player in the Lakers’ lone series against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Part of this was likely due to some weird circumstances around his rookie season, he was traded to Charlotte as part of a package for Mark Williams before Los Angeles pulled the plug on the deal.

Still, the Lakers didn’t get the early impact they wanted (and was sold) from Knecht.

Verdict: Was not “NBA Ready” and is a borderline roster player in 2026-27.

Tristan da Silva, Orlando Magic

Rookie Season Stats: 74 GP | 22 MIN | 7 P | 3 R | 2 A | BPM -2.6 | 41/34/87 splits

Taken one spot after Dalton Knecht in the 2024 draft was Tristan da Silva, a forward out of Colorado.

da Silva averaged 16 points and five rebounds per game in his final college season at Colorado, earning All-PAC-12 Honors (RIP) in each of his final two years. And though da Silva’s path leading up to his college career was untraditional, he was someone who continually got better throughout his pre-NBA years coming up through Germany’s basketball roots.

The same article from Sporting News that we referenced for Knecht also said something similar about da Silva’s readiness:

“He can handle the ball well for his size, make simple reads as a passer and defend multiple positions… da Silva is right in line with Orlando’s expedited timeline.”

The immediate returns from da Silva’s rookie season were a bit lackluster. He didn’t receive any All-Rookie First Team votes and was out of the rotation by the time the Magic played the Boston Celtics in their first-round series.

Still, da Silva has shown more growth since then, and the Magic seemingly hit on him as a rotational forward.

While I’ll say that da Silva wasn’t an immediate contributor, he does project well as a 6th-8th man moving forward.

Verdict: Will be a good role player, but wasn’t “NBA-ready”

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Chris Duarte, Indiana Pacers

Rookie Season Stats: 55 GP | 28 MIN | 13 P | 4 R | 2 A | BPM -2.3 | 43/37/80 splits

Chris Duarte’s rookie season is one of the more interesting case studies. He’s one of the oldest lottery picks (13th overall) since 2010 at 24 years old, with a lot of his pre-draft appeal coming because he was a ready-made floor spacer.

Duarte grew up in the Dominican Republic before moving to the United States but wasn’t a major recruit, ending up at a junior college before transferring to Oregon for his final two college seasons.

Duarte averaged 17 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists on 53/42/81 shooting during his final year at Oregon.

Here’s an excerpt from an article of when the Pacers took Duarte:

“At 24 years old, Duarte is one of the most NBA-ready players in this year's class. Unlike some of the younger and more raw prospects in the draft, the Dominican Republic native should be able to contribute right away for the Pacers”

Duarte’s rookie season was a weird one. He started out red-hot, scoring 27 points in his NBA debut against the Charlotte Hornets.

Duarte was fairly consistent throughout his first year in the NBA. He was marred by some injuries late, but he’s one of the few players on this list that actually finished on an All-Rookie team (though he did not receive any All-Rookie 1st Team votes).

And though he saw some early success, Indiana probably regrets picking Duarte as high as they did. He played four NBA seasons before exiting the league. Just four years after being picked, he’s playing in Liga ACB (Spain).

Verdict: Duarte was one of the bright spots for a 25-win Pacers teams, but only declined from there.

Cam Johnson

Rookie Season Stats: 57 GP | 22 MIN | 9 P | 3 R | 1 A | BPM 0.3 | 44/39/81 splits

Cam Johnson is one of the best players on this list. He was billed as a ready-made shooter coming out of the draft, expected to be picked in the later-half of the 2019 first round.

Instead, the Suns took him 10th to everyone’s surprise (including his college teammate Coby White).

Johnson spent five years in the ACC, with his play jumping in his final college year. He averaged 17 points per game on 46% shooting - a really good number for a 6-foot-9 forward.

Here’s an analysis of Johnson’s readiness from when he was picked by the Suns:

“Johnson will improve the Suns’ floor-spacing considerably and will be able to get on the court right away, but it remains to be seen whether the Suns actually needed to pull the trigger at No. 11 to get him or could have gotten him later, even all the way down at No. 32, the pick they gave up to move off of Warren’s salary.”

Johnson had a good rookie season. He didn’t make an All-Rookie team, but he was a solid bench contributor for a middle-of-the-pack Suns team.

He is the most valuable player on this list, and currently still making an impact for the Denver Nuggets.

Verdict: Cam Johnson was, in fact, an NBA-ready player that continued to grow throughout his time in the NBA.

Buddy Hield, New Orleans Pelicans

Buddy Hield is the “NBA-ready” player of all time. He was 23.5 years old on draft night before being selected with the 6th overall pick by the New Orleans Pelicans.

Hield won the Naismith National Player of the Year in his final season at Oklahoma, when he averaged 25 points, six rebounds, and two assists per game on 50/46/88 shooting splits - just ridiculous numbers for a player at the college level, even considering his age.

Hield stayed a full four years at college, growing throughout his time at Oklahoma. He grew up in the Bahamas which lagged his age by about a year in terms of making it to the collegiate game. Hield was later to entering high school in the United States, though he eventually proved himself as a high-end recruit.

A pre-draft profile of Hield read:

“His age and lack of defensive ability will give teams pause, but he will provide an NBA-ready skill to whatever team selects him in the top 10.”

Hield’s rookie season was a weird one, though.

After 57 games with the New Orleans Pelicans, he was traded to Sacramento as part of a package for Demarcus Cousins.

In the games for New Orleans, he averaged just under nine points on 39/37/89 shooting splits - that’s not great.

The Pelicans were a middle-of-the-road team in the Western Conference with playoff aspirations (hence the bigger trade).

Upon arriving to the Kings, Hield was significantly better. He averaged over 15 points per game on 43% from three.

Still, the Kings finished with 32 wins, and Hield’s stretch of play prior to the trade is enough for me to deem that he wasn’t quite as NBA-ready as billed, especially being the 6th overall pick.

Hield has since turned into a quality bench scorer, though he isn’t the starter many hoped he’d be.

Verdict: Not NBA ready, but has turned in a solid career.

Delon Wright, Toronto Raptors

Rookie Season Stats: 27 GP | 9 MIN | 4 P | 1 R | 1 A | BPM 0.9 | 45/39/74 splits

Delon Wright had some academic issues in his senior year of his high school, which delayed his path to college basketball. Eventually, he found himself at Utah, where he averaged 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists throughout his two college seasons.

Wright, being an older prospect, found himself with the “NBA Ready” label attached. He was an older prospect, though was one who started his basketball career early, it just wasn’t able to continue as most players.

The consensus around the Raptors picking Wright was that he’d be able to give them real minutes as a rookie:

“In Delon Wright, the Toronto Raptors landed a backup point guard who can contribute right away.”

The Raptors would need that type of impact, too, given they were interested in making it far into the postseason.

Wright’s rookie year was fine for a 20th overall pick. He didn’t contribute much, despite that pre-draft billing, and was efficient and effective in the minutes he did play.

Still, I don’t think I would qualify him as “NBA ready” by any stretch. He didn’t see any a rotational role in the playoffs, and was only minimally involved in the Raptors’ season.

Verdict: Delon Wright was not an “NBA-ready” prospect.

Adreian Payne, Atlanta Hawks

Rookie Season Stats: 32 GP | 23 MIN | 7 P | 5 R | 1 A | 41/11/65 splits

Adreian Payne was a classic late-breakout at Michigan State. Prior to his senior year of college, Payne averaged seven points and five rebounds per game.

He was genuinely special in his senior season, though, where his scoring bumped up to 17 points per game, with Payne making 42% of his 3-pointers, as well.

The DraftExpress profile paints a pretty good picture of how NBA teams viewed Payne:

“While Payne is very much a known commodity and in some ways could be considered a finished product at age 23, there's a comfort level in what he brings to the table and how easily he can be plugged into a NBA role”

Payne would only end up playing four total seasons in the NBA, a total of 107 games.

I don’t want to pile on here, but there just wasn’t much for Payne at the NBA level. It just didn’t work.

Verdict: Payne was neither an “NBA ready player” nor someone that grew into being a long-term contributor.

Ekpe Udoh, Golden State Warriors

Rookie Season Stats: 58 GP | 18 MIN | 4 P | 3 R | 1 A | BPM -3.8 | 44/0/66 splits

Udoh’s path is arguably the most similar to Yaxel Lendeborg, if you had to make me pick. He was late to basketball, developing later in his college years after coming to the United States from Nigeria.

Despite his older age, he was viewed as developmentally young, which helped sell the Warriors on using a top-10 pick on him. Udoh’s combination of floor and developmental ceiling separated him more than other older prospects - and is arguably the most intriguing older player profile prior to Yaxel Lendeborg.

Udoh averaged 14 points and 10 rebounds (along with 3.7 blocks) per game.

A big with his skill level was already intriguing to NBA teams:

“It’s Udoh’s work ethic at the offensive end that has made him a weapon all over the floor and has propelled him up NBA draft boards. He uses a nifty jump hook in the lane and is effective with his back to the basket or facing it. He can step out and bury the midrange jumper and even, as Kansas’ coach Bill Self said, can hit a 3-pointer. He’s made 5 of 14 this season.

He has also developed excellent ballhandling skills, allowing him to take his man off the dribble and create for himself, a rare quality for a big man. He’s gone to the free throw line a team-high 87 times.”

So it’s easy to see why the Warriors were sold on him so early in the 2010 draft (funnily enough in between the team’s selections of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson).

Still, Udoh didn’t quite translate to the NBA.

He averaged only 18 minutes per game as a rookie, didn’t garner any All-Rookie 1st Team votes, and became a journeyman relatively quickly through his career, despite hanging around the NBA as a depth big for the better part of a decade.

Verdict: Udoh was not “NBA-ready” nor was he a long-term rotation piece.

So what does all of this mean in relation to Yaxel Lendeborg?

Yaxel Lendeborg’s profile matches these types of players more than others. He rarely played basketball early in his life, and was even deemed academically ineligible to play at one point.

He generated enough buzz to make it to a junior college, worked his way up to Division-I college basketball at UAB, and then transferred to Michigan for his final college season. Nothing about his background is common for NBA prospects.

But we have seen older prospects with unorthodox paths make it to the NBA with the same “safe, NBA-ready” billing before. It hasn’t always worked out.

I think the point of this article is to establish that these older players aren’t as known commodities as we’d like to believe.

Even if you lower the 23.0 year old threshold to just 22.5 years old (in addition to being top-20 picks since 2010), the players we’re adding to the existing list are: Davion Mitchell, Denzel Valentine, Jarian Grant, Doug McDermott, Andrew Nicholson, and Wesley Johnson.

Again, just not the best crop of talent. You’d expect there to be more decent role players, if not solid starters.

Lendeborg is arguably the best “prospect” we’ve discussed today. He’s a lengthy forward with a ton of NBA-level skills. But that doesn’t necessarily save him from having a similar floor to players such as Ekpe Udoh, Delon Wright, Dalton Knecht - all of which were talked about in similar fashion in their pre-draft cycles.

I’ll end with this: Drafting older players early doesn’t necessarily raise the expected floor of a pick, but it definitely lowers the ceiling.

Yaxel Lendeborg could absolutely break the trend here. He’s a prospect that we haven’t seen before. But I don’t think I can find myself betting on a historical age outlier.

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LaMelo Ball took a major step forward in the 2025-26 season, but there is still more to do to earn recognition among the NBA’s elite.

The Hornets’ star guard appeared in 70-plus games for the first time since the 2021-22 season and averaged a solid 20 points, five rebounds and seven assists on the year. He led the Hornets to their first play-in appearance since that 2022 season and earned the team its first postseason win in a decade, nailing the game-winning layup against the Heat.

These achievements led to some speculation that Ball could be in contention for a spot on the All-NBA Third Team. However, when the teams were announced this past weekend, Ball’s name was left off after receiving just five votes.

Charlotte has had six players selected to an All-NBA team while with the franchise, but only two have come during the team’s second iteration. The last was Kemba Walker in 2019.

Walker was a bit of a late bloomer in the league. He achieved his first All-Star appearance in year six and didn’t earn his All-NBA selection until year eight.

Ball was the opposite. He came into the league and quickly established himself as a top point guard. Despite this, he is heading into year seven with just one All-Star appearance under his belt.

Injuries and subpar teams have held Ball back, but like Walker, he has the skills to make another leap deep into his career. Here’s how he can do it and earn his first All-NBA nod.

LaMelo must raise his efficiency

Since joining the league, the criticism around Ball has been loud.

Those are just some of the things his detractors have said.

While many of the complaints thrown towards Ball lacked context, there has always been some validity to them, especially regarding his efficiency.

Ball’s counting stats alone were enough to get him in the conversation, but if he wants to make a leap and be among the NBA’s best players, he has to up his advanced metrics.

Now, if you watch the Hornets, you know the group is a much different team when Ball is on the floor versus off. His playmaking and court vision are as good as anyone’s.

He may take the occasional logo three, but his confidence to shoot from anywhere is effective in spreading out the defense, regardless of whether the shot goes in.

That works for the Hornets, but it harms Ball’s efficiency numbers. It may not be a big deal for him, but it is in the mind of NBA voters.

Last season, Ball had the 31st-best Player Efficiency Rating in the league. That puts him behind all 15 All-NBA selections from this past season.

His 54.6 true shooting percentage is outside the top-100 and, again, behind all the current All-NBA players.

He shoots just over 40% from the floor and 36% from three. Those numbers are fine for a guard with his shot diet, but it’s not All-NBA good.

Ball’s efficiency numbers have remained pretty stagnant throughout his career. There have been peaks and dips, but overall, the numbers stay in the same range.

So, how can he raise them? It really comes down to the team around him, alleviating some pressure and allowing him to take the best available shot.

We saw a lot of that during the Hornets’ late-season win streak. Now it just needs to last an entire season.

The Hornets need to remain competitive throughout the season

During the NBA season, narratives are established early. For the first four months of the Hornets’ 2025-26 season, the narrative was bleak.

Charlotte started the year struggling. Brandon Miller missed extended time after injuring his shoulder in the second game of the season. The depth was stretched thin with players like Josh Green and Grant Williams missing significant time, and the team entered the new year (11-22) overall.

Trade talks around Ball had never been louder as many began to speculate both his and the team’s frustration with the current situation. But then, all the pieces fell into place.

The Hornets got healthy and started taking down some of the NBA’s most fearsome teams. Then came the win streak, followed by a play-in push that saw the team reach the nine seed.

All of that attention was nice, but it came too late to net the Hornets any All-Stars and contributed to Ball’s absence from the All-NBA team.

Had the Hornets been playing like that all year, Ball would have likely gotten more than five votes for All-NBA consideration, and the team probably would’ve had an All-Star.

It will be crucial for the team to stay relevant from the jump next season and compete for a top-six seed in the Eastern Conference. Then some of the individual accolades can start to accumulate.

LaMelo has to stay on the floor

One of the biggest hurdles Ball will have to clear to earn postseason recognition is probably the most obvious.

Injuries have plagued Ball’s career. He’s reached the recently established 65-game threshold for postseason awards only twice in his 6-year long career.

But even beyond that, Ball needs to be on the court longer in the games he does play.

Ball’s minutes restriction was a big talking point the entire 2025-26 Hornets campaign. It gained prominent attention when Ball came off the bench and sat late in games to keep him in line with the organization’s plan.

The minutes restriction worked in keeping Ball on the court this season, but it led to numerous stretches where the Hornets desperately needed the engine of their offense, looking otherwise lost without him.

If Ball can stay healthy enough to fully ease out of his restrictions in 2026-27, his counting stats will go up, his impact will be greater and hopefully, the Hornets will win more games.

Combine all of that together, and you’ve got the recipe for an All-NBA LaMelo Ball season.

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Draft season is in full swing for the Charlotte Hornets, who own two top-20 picks in next month’s draft.

There’s a wide swath of players that are going to be in consideration for each of those picks, and almost no mock draft is the same. There’s a list of about 12-15 different players that the Hornets could pick at either of their first-round selections.

But what kind of player could they look to add? What’s are some realistic comparisons for the players projected in Charlotte’s range?

Before getting into the comparisons I’ve devised, I want to clarify these are stylistic comparisons, not necessarily indicative of the caliber of player I think each of these guys will become.

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Sitting at a crossroads this offseason, the Charlotte Hornets have a choice to make in this year’s NBA Draft: swing for the fences to target upside or pursue safer prospects.

The stakes are high for Charlotte this offseason, after falling one game short of the NBA Playoffs. On the cusp of establishing itself as a playoff team, the 2026 NBA Draft could be the step that pushes Buzz City over the line and into the playoffs. However, missing in the draft would almost certainly set the franchise back after making significant progress this year.

With a pair of first-round selections at No. 14 and No. 18, Charlotte is picking in a fascinating range. If history teaches anything about the middle of the first round, it’s that there’s always value to be found with players like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bam Adebayo, and Alperen Sengun selected in this range. However, for every All-Star selected in this range, there are just as many busts. Hornets fans should be well aware of this after the franchise missed on Kai Jones in 2021.

For the Charlotte Hornets, I believe that the best course of action is to use both first-round selections on high-floor prospects. With LaMelo Ball on a max contract, Brandon Miller’s likely extension looming, and eventually an extension for Kon Knueppel all factored in, the Hornets’ roster is about to get expensive quickly. As showcased by the Oklahoma City Thunder’s model of injecting rookie talent to fill out rotation spots annually, having effective role players on rookie contracts is an incredibly valuable asset in team building.

It may seem counterintuitive to pass on the opportunity to swing for the fences twice and hope that one pick pays off. After all, adding a potential All-Star caliber player would almost certainly elevate the Hornets to be a clear playoff team. However, the odds of hitting on even one out of two of those boom or bust picks are slim.

To better understand the likely outcomes for boom or bust and safe prospects, I examined the 2016-2023 draft classes, classifying every prospect selected 14th through 18th as either a boom or bust, safe prospect, or somewhere in the middle based on pre-draft consensus. Then, focusing on the boom or bust and safe prospects, I noted each player’s outcome as a star, quality role player, or bust. I also excluded prospects from the 2024 and 2025 NBA drafts, as it is too early to know how those prospects will turn out. While the methodology requires some subjectivity in evaluating prospect outcomes, it gives a general sense of player outcomes.

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The results sent a clear message: the best way to get value in the middle of the first round is to take the safe prospect. While zero safe prospects in the data ended up as stars, 71% became quality role players, while only 29% busted. Quality role players included the likes of Donte DiVincenzo, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Jaime Jaquez Jr.

Meanwhile, boom-or-bust prospects were a very different story. 69% ended up as draft busts. 19% blossomed into stars, which were Bam Adebayo, Michael Porter Jr., and Alperen Sengun. Only 13% settled in the middle as quality role players. Even with two picks, the Hornets would be gambling with the possibility of getting nothing in this draft if they take two boom or bust swings.

In a world where cost-controlled role players create valuable salary cap flexibility, the Hornets would be wise to target the safer prospects in this year’s draft. A few particular names that stand out to me include Washington center Hannes Steinbach, Michigan forward Morez Johnson Jr., and Santa Clara forward Allen Graves.

Steinbach offers Charlotte a dominant rebounding presence after leading the nation in rebounds with 11.8 last season. Lacking physicality for years, the Hornets could use Steinbach’s brute force on the glass and would be a unique piece to add to the center rotation. Offensively, Steinbach is a tough matchup with his scoring ability. Notably, his ability to hit 3s would pair well in pick-and-pop situations with LaMelo Ball.

If the Hornets want to lean towards pure defense rather than rebounding, Johnson is the prospect for Charlotte. The national champion was a critical piece in Michigan’s defense this season as an athletic, high-octane defender. With a wingspan of seven-foot-three and a half, Johnson would instantly be one of Charlotte’s better defenders. Since both Miles Bridges and Moussa Diabate are entering contract years, there’s a real possibility that Johnson could take over a starting role by 2027 as a defensive specialist.

While he’s often lower on draft boards than Steinbach or Johnson, Allen Graves fits the profile Charlotte could target. Last year at Santa Clara, Graves posted impressive shooting splits, hitting at 51.2% from the field and 41.3% from deep. After settling in as the Broncos’ sixth man last season, I could easily envision a similar role for Graves in Charlotte. While his athleticism limits his upside, Graves appears to be a safe bet to be an effective role player at the NBA level.

With multiple options available, Charlotte has the opportunity to build valuable depth in this class. Finding role players on rookie contracts may be exactly what the doctor orders for the Hornets to find their way back to the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

My big picture, Weekly State of the Hive Address:

I’m of the opinion that the size of Muggsy Bogues’ calves has been a severely under-discussed topic amongst the Hornets community.

That guy had calves the size of a small child’s head. Maybe even a large child.

You don’t make it to the NBA at his height without some impressive physical attributes, after all.

You also don’t play 10 seasons straight with the same NBA team unless your presence meant something on and off the floor. The calves just help.

Muggsy wasn’t just the quintessential Hornet. He WAS the Hornet.

A pest in every passing lane. Swarming to a lazily taken dribble. Every bit of his size was used against you, and Bogues took advantage of players every night who thought they had it easy.

When they got complacent and told themselves, “This is the shortest player in the league, he can’t touch me,” was when Muggsy thrived. He embodies our team’s name more than any other player ever has.

In spirit, in size, in heart, and just his general swarming-esque style of play, altogether.

If Dell Curry is Mr. Hornet, then Muggsy Bogues is the closest thing to THE Hornet we’ve seen in this franchise outside of Hugo himself (or herself. Or Super-Hugoself).

I’m genuinely of the opinion that Muggsy Bogues has one of the highest basketball IQs the NBA has ever seen.

You can’t get to the league on children’s head-sized calves alone, although I’m sure it helped a lot.

I’m also of the STRONG opinion that Bogues deserves to have his jersey in the rafters right now alongside Dell Curry’s No. 30 and the late Bobby Phills’ No. 13.

Except, I think it already would be up there if we didn’t have an active No. 1 in LaMelo Ball.

If co-owners Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall were so quick and willing to put Curry’s jersey up, saying Dell deserved it hand over foot?

Surely they view Muggsy the same way, right?

“So, what’s the holdup?” I asked myself earlier this week.

We spoke on Dell approving a potential No. 30 jersey for Steph Curry in the event he came to Charlotte.

But that’s so different, I feel like.

How can you spend halftime of a regular-season game retiring a jersey like Muggsy’s, only to have it watered down the moment halftime is over and another No. 1 in LaMelo Ball starts playing immediately after?

I think that’s why the owners have held off on Muggsy. Truly. Bogues deserves better than to have his retirement flame stamped out like that as soon as it’s over. Even if they were to do a Bogues patch on LaMelo’s jersey. It would feel like a backhanded retirement, and again, these owners don’t have the aura of treating a franchise and the Charlotte community great like that.

You’d be hard-pressed to find 10 people as influential as Muggsy Bogues in the city of Charlotte.

So all of this exposition about Muggsy begs my main question of the day:

If a future LaMelo Ball gets his jersey retired, surely you have to retire both of their names for No. 1.

Holding out right now to retire Bogues’ name is just fine, but clearly it’s because Ball is still… playing.

That changes if you leave his name out altogether during my hypothetical future jersey retirement for LaMelo and the Hornets’ No. 1 jersey.

Now the latter, in my humble opinion, would be very, very disrespectful to Muggsy.

So I’ve arrived at a conclusion that I want you all to ponder on throughout the rest of your own week(s).

There’s no world where you retire LaMelo in the future, assuming he stays with Charlotte a LARGE majority of the rest of his career…

And leave out Bogues. No way. Not based on Bogues' merit.

You didn’t retire Dell on pure merit. You retired him because of the sheer impact he’s had through his play, AND his post-playing days.

While it’s not as an announcer, Tyrone Bogues has done the EXACT same thing. He’s still second all-time in games played in Charlotte.

Muggsy’s Hornets’ assist record may never be touched, either.

Bogues played 10 seasons in Charlotte; 632 games played overall, while averaging 31.3 minutes per game in those 632 GP.

Muggsy had 5,557 assists total throughout those 10 seasons.

Kemba Walker — who played just TWENTY-SEVEN fewer career games in Charlotte than Bogues (605) — finished his Hornets tenure with 3,308 assists.

That is 2,249 fewer than ol’ Muggsy. Granted, of course, Walker was a scorer. A high-volume one, at that.

That wasn’t Muggsy’s game, as I’m sure you’re well aware.

Yes, LaMelo Ball is a scorer, too. But I think we’d all agree his biggest asset is his ability to make players better and to pass the basketball like no one else in the league.

Bogues was the same way; he just wasn’t 6-foot-7 and an elite scorer.

I will give it to Ball that, had he avoided most of his injuries, he may legitimately be on pace to break Muggsy’s record.

As it stands? It’ll be tough, to say the least. LaMelo will HAVE to play most of his career in Charlotte, if not all of it, in order to surpass Bogues’ unreal number of 5,557.

Let’s do the math; basketball arithmetic is the only math I can stomach, anyway.

I want to really give Ball his best statistical chance to hypothetically break this record, so instead of taking his career assist average, we’re going to take his AST AVG from last year.

Last year was a down year in his scoring efficiency.

But I don’t know if LaMelo’s distribution and his “I’m making these players better by being on the floor” factor have ever been higher than they were in 2025-2026.

Ball has played 303 games in his six years so far. Last season, while averaging only 28.0 minutes/game, LaMelo still averaged 7.1 assists/game.

In his rookie year, Ball saw 28.8 minutes/game and averaged a whole assist less (6.1 AST/game) than last year (2025-2026).

All this to say, I understand 7.1 AST/game is a low estimate to use in the math, but I feel like it’s one that averages out potential future seasons where coming back from slight injuries limits his box-score impact every now and then.

So let’s take last season’s averages (7.1 AST) and assume LaMelo (who just finished his sixth season, 303 GP) plays another six years with the Hornets.

This would put LaMelo at 12 years in Charlotte; longer than both Dell Curry and Bogues, who each played 10 years with the Hornets.

Lamelo already has 2,224 career assists in those 303 GP. Ball will likely never play all 82 games in his career, and we’ll assume, on the HIGH side, he sees 65 games/year over the next six seasons.

65 games over the next six years would add 390 GP to Ball’s 303; in this scenario, Ball becomes Charlotte’s all-time leader in games played if he manages to do this (693). Bogues, as I said earlier, has 605.

But…

At an assumed 7.1 AST/game in his next six years, even after leading Bogues in this hypothetical scenario by 88 games played all-time, LaMelo only adds 2,769 assists.

So, in this fake situation that I’m using to argue a point, even as the far-and-away leader over Bogues by 88 GP for Hornets’ games played all-time, LaMelo only finishes his theoretical 12 Hornets seasons with 4,993 career assists.

This would still leave LaMelo five hundred and sixty-four assists short of Muggsy Bogues’ total of 5,557.

Lamelo played a career-high 72 games for Charlotte in 2025-2026 and had 514 assists in those 72 games.

That’s the most math I’ve done in a while, so apologies for my redundancy, as it was for my own sake more than it was yours.

Although if you enjoy reading 3,000-word Hornets think pieces on the weekend, you’re probably as bad at math as I am. Maybe it helped you, too.

So… LaMelo would have to play ~ 14 total seasons with the Hornets to have the best chance at breaking Muggsy’s assist record outright.

Of course, LaMelo’s injuries have hindered him from being closer to Muggsy’s pace, as I said in the beginning. But I wanted to give him a fair chance and not speculate too much about future injuries.

What blew my mind about doing this, and why I wrote about it in the first place, is that even when you’re generous to LaMelo in trying to guess where his career assist numbers end up, like I was above:

It takes near perfection from LaMelo’s part to even have a chance at catching Muggsy Bogues’ record.

This is not a LaMelo diss whatsoever. This is more of a “Using LaMelo’s talent to prop up Muggsy Bogues greatness” situation.

Muggsy was that good; he is worthy of my time to defend. Although I certainly didn’t get paid well enough to be his lawyer. I wish more lawyers worked out of respect, as I just did.

If LaMelo truly plays 14 seasons and breaks his record? Or, even if he plays 11/12 years and gets 5-600 short of the record.

He’ll undoubtedly have his jersey retired still, you’d think. Like, as close as locked in as a jersey retirement could be.

What I’ve been trying to prove to you for the last thousand words, though, is that, when/if that happens for LaMelo…

I’d better see either:

Two last names on that No. 1 jersey, or two separate No. 1 jerseys getting rolled up to the rafters beside Dell and Bobby. I will not accept a LaMelo retirement without the No. 1 that paved the way first.

You can’t possibly convince me Muggsy doesn’t deserve it.

The final two segments of Owen Watterson’s free, weekly column will be available here at 7:00 PM EST.

The Charlotte Hornets have adopted a modern team-building approach since general manager Jeff Peterson took charge of the front office.

I’ve already covered the analytics side, what the Hornets seemingly value, and who it could mean they have interest in. You can read that article here:

What’s more interesting to me now is attempting to project what their actual draft board will look like through applying those analytics, leaning into positional and archetypal need, and overall team fit.

In this board, I’ve considered all of those factors above to build a top-30 board based on what I think the Hornets will value in this draft.

Here we go:

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This series is exclusive to SportCLT, and you can’t find these games anywhere else on the internet.

“Hornets Rewind” will take place a few times per month, and each game is hand-picked by Owen from his archive of full-length 80s/90s Hornets games. Today’s stream will be showing the 1992-93 Charlotte Hornets taking on the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls in the old Charlotte Coliseum.

The live stream will take place today, May 21st at 8 PM ET. Please read below for the full details on how to watch.

How to Watch

The “Watch-a-Long” series will be exclusive to SportCLT’s paid subscribers. Getting access to full games from that era isn’t free, and supporting SportCLT is the only way we’re able to make series like this possible.

The live event(s) will take place on our paid-subscriber-exclusive Discord server, ClubCLT.

To get access to ClubCLT, become a paid subscriber to SportCLT, and the invitation link will be sent to your email.

You can click the button below to become a paid SportCLT subscriber. If you are already a paid subscriber and want access, go to the Substack chat feature on the mobile app or website to find the invitation link.

The NBA offseason is well underway, and with the Hornets finishing among the most promising mid-tier teams this past season, many have pointed out that Charlotte could be among the more aggressive teams in gearing up their roster this offseason.

I’ve written pretty extensively about how Hornets GM Jeff Peterson is going to be patient in the trade market with this roster, and that Charlotte is likely to use both of their top-20 draft selections this summer.

But if a trade does come, who would be out the door? Who will the Hornets re-sign?

Many point to expiring contracts like Miles Bridges, Josh Green, and Grant Williams as potential outgoing salary to bring in a bigger fish, but will Charlotte actually be aggressive in making a trade?

Here is my prediction on every Charlotte Hornets player, and whether they are safe from being traded (or allowed to hit the open market in free agency).

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There is a lot of nostalgia for the 80s and 90s-era Charlotte Hornets: the old Coliseum, the attendance records, the pinstripes donned by Larry Johnson, Muggsy Bogues, and many more.

Almost all of the games from that era are lost to time.

Today, though, SportCLT is excited to announce that we’re bringing you a new way to watch full games from that era in the form of watch-a-longs.

Typically unavailable to the general public, our very own Owen Watterson is bringing his archive of full-length Hornets games to SportCLT, hosting a ‘Watch-a-Long’ a few times every month.

The first Watch-A-Long? It’ll be the Charlotte Hornets taking on the Chicago Bulls in April 1993 at the old Charlotte Coliseum. Owen will be providing commentary throughout the game. Some other SportCLT members might be jumping in throughout the stream.

That game featured Jordan and Pippen’s Bulls against a Hornets team with a starting lineup of Muggsy Bogues, Kendall Gill, Johnny Newman, Larry Johnson, and Alonzo Mourning.

The live stream will take place on Today, May 21st at 8 PM ET. Please read below for the full details on how to watch.

How to Watch “Hornets Rewind”

The “Watch-a-Long” series will be exclusive to SportCLT’s paid subscribers. Getting access to full games from that era isn’t free, and supporting SportCLT is the only way we’re able to make series like this possible.

The live event(s) will take place on our paid-subscriber-exclusive Discord server, ClubCLT.

To get access to ClubCLT, become a paid subscriber to SportCLT, and the invitation link will be sent to your email.

If you are already a paid subscriber and want access, go to the Substack chat feature on the mobile app or website to find the invitation link.

NBA Draft season is in full swing, and since my last Mock Draft, we’ve had the NBA Draft lottery and combine take place.

Because of the nature of those events, there’s been a lot of movement from players projected throughout the first round. You can read about my combine winners and losers here.

The way the top-4 shook out is particularly interesting, and consensus seems to agree on what the order of the first four players off the board will look like. Still, it’s too early to count out any surprises. The majority of in-person workouts still haven’t taken place.

Let’s get into the mock.

1. Washington Wizards - AJ Dybantsa - Wing - BYU

AJ Dybantsa fits clean into the Wizards roster, and though some are treating the first pick as a foregone conclusion, it still would not shock me to see Darryn Peterson’s named called at the top of the draft.

Dybantsa would add a ton of downhill rim pressure as a lengthy, shot-hunting wing. That’s a skill set that NBA teams love, and the All-NBA potential is very visible here.

2. Utah Jazz - Darryn Peterson - Guard - Kansas

It’s hard to justify taking either of Boozer or Wilson over Darryn Peterson given Utah’s current roster construction: They already are paying massive dollars to each of Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson (and are about to pay Walker Kessler). That’s not to say it couldn’t happen, but taking the lead-guard that pairs well with Keyonte George is the most-likely outcome.

3. Memphis Grizzlies - Cam Boozer - Forward - Duke

Cam Boozer checks a lot of boxes that the Memphis Grizzlies love. I think they are one of the few teams that would take Boozer first overall if they landed it, but it’s the same result here anyways.

4. Chicago Bulls - Caleb Wilson - Forward - UNC

The Bulls get lucky in that they’re adding a top-4 pick in a loaded class. Wilson is an elite inside scorer with wiry athleticism and the potential to grow into a special player on defense (even if he isn’t quite there yet on that end). The Bulls’ pick is the easiest in the entire draft: just select whoever is leftover of the top-4.

5. Los Angeles Clippers - Mikel Brown - Guard - Louisville

Mikel Brown has the highest ceiling of almost any player in this draft class. At his best, he’s an elite scoring guard with playmaking that no other player in this class can match. There’s a lot of inconsistency with Brown, but he’s got the best size of any lottery-projected guard, and the potential makes him worth a top-5 pick.

I do think the Clippers will consider Aday Mara with this pick, but it’s too early for his name to be called, in my opinion.

6. Brooklyn Nets - Keaton Wagler - Guard - Illinois

The Brooklyn Nets drafted four primarily on-ball players in the 2025 Draft: Ben Saraf, Nolan Traore, Danny Wolf, and Egor Demin.

That’s not to say any of those players are stopping them from taking another lead-guard, but Keaton Wagler is the best of both worlds, to me. Yes, he has some real on-ball playmaking juice, but also is an electric perimeter scorer off the catch.

7. Sacramento Kings - Darius Acuff - Guard - Arkansas

Darius Acuff is an entertaining watch, and he measured larger than expected at the NBA Draft combine last week, as well.

He’s a simple prospect in that he’s an elite offensive lead-guard prospect while having all of the small guard drawbacks associated with the archetype. Whether it works in a playoff environment will depend on the effort Acuff is able to give on that end of the floor.

That said, the offense is good enough to where it ultimately might not matter, at least in regular season competition.

8. Atlanta Hawks - Aday Mara - Big - Michigan

The Hawks really struggled to guard Karl-Anthony Towns in their series against the Knicks. Mara offers a lot more size than Onyeka Okongwu while having elite feel and high-end passing offensively. The Hawks would have turned the 2025 13th pick into Aday Mara and Asa Newell. A heist.

9. Dallas Mavericks - Brayden Burries - Guard - Arizona

The Mavericks are an interesting pivot point in this draft. If the board falls this way, I think their shortlist will include Burries, Nate Ament, Yaxel Lendeborg, Kingston Flemings, and Labaron Philon.

In this case, new general manager Mike Schmitz takes a physical two-guard that pairs well with the intensity and defensive acumen of Cooper Flagg.

10. Milwaukee Bucks - Nate Ament - Forward - Tennessee

I don’t know what to do with this pick. Nate Ament will go higher than people expect, though, and he fits the type of prospect that Milwaukee likes to bring into their building.

He’s got a rare combination of size and shooting, and I’m convinced he still has yet to play his best basketball.

11. Golden State Warriors - Yaxel Lendeborg - Forward - Michigan

The Warriors take the best current player in Lendeborg, who could be in play as high as fifth overall to the Clippers. He’s a ready-made forward that brings length, defensive playmaking, and an offensive connector skill set.

12. OKC Thunder - Karim Lopez - Forward - INTL

Karim Lopez has been playing international basketball for years, and was productive in the NBL this past season. He needs to consistently shoot it for him to earn a role in OKC, but he has the frame and feel to make a long-term impact.

13. Miami Heat - Kingston Flemings - Guard - Houston

Kingston Flemings falls to the Heat in this scenario, who run the card in. Flemings looks to be a two-way guard that can shoot, facilitate, and make plays on the defensive end in spite of his smaller stature.

14. Charlotte Hornets - Jayden Quaintance - Big - Kentucky

The Hornets take a big swing with their first of two first-round picks. Quaintance can be a game-changing defensive talent if he’s fully healthy from his ACL injury (sustained back in February 2025), and Charlotte has the offensive talent to find Quaintance easy transition and dunker-spot opportunities at the next level.

The Hornets have struggled with more physical big presences with Moussa Diabate as their starting center, so adding a big, athletic center with a lot of potential makes too much sense. Quaintance is a player that would not be available in a more normal, less talent-rich draft class.

End of Lottery

15. Chicago Bulls - Cam Carr - Wing - Baylor

16. Memphis Grizzlies - Labaron Philon - Guard - Alabama

17. OKC Thunder - Morez Johnson - Big - Michigan

18. Charlotte Hornets - Allen Graves - Forward - Santa Clara

The Hornets take their second front court player in this mock with Santa Clara’s Allen Graves.

He’s a complementary piece that grades out really well on analytics models. Graves is a high-end catch-and-shoot guy offensively with the mobility, length, and strength to guard multiple front-court positions. His calling card in the NBA will be as a defensive playmaker.

If the Hornets took both Quaintance and Graves, they’d have multiple front court pieces capable of switching and defending on the perimeter (in addition to much more size inside).

That’s appealing for a team that got eviscerated by the Orlando Magic in the play-in bracket.

19. Toronto Raptors - Hannes Steinbach - Big - Washington

20. San Antonio Spurs - Chris Cenac - Big - Houston

21. Detroit Pistons - Isaiah Evans - Wing - Duke

22. Philadelphia 76ers - Amari Allen - Wing - Alabama

23. Atlanta Hawks - Ebuka Okorie - Guard - Stanford

24. New York Knicks - Koa Peat - Forward - Arizona

25. Los Angeles Lakers - Dailyn Swain - Wing - Texas

26. Denver Nuggets - Tounde Yessoufou - Wing - Baylor

27. Boston Celtics - Meleek Thomas - Guard - Arkansas

28. Minnesota Timberwolves - Bennett Stirtz - Guard - Iowa

29. Cleveland Cavaliers - Zuby Ejiofor - Forward - St. John’s

30. Dallas Mavericks - Tyler Tanner - Guard - Vanderbilt

The Charlotte Hornets are in an interesting spot. They are coming off their best season in roughly a decade with a pool of assets that beat almost any other team in the NBA.

Charlotte has two top-20 picks this season, three first-round picks next year, and a dozen plus second-rounders. Traditionally, teams with such riches would be well-positioned to make an “all-in” type of move, one that would reel in a star-caliber player.

We saw it just last offseason when the Orlando Magic traded four first-round picks for Desmond Bane. Then we saw it again at the trade deadline as the Jazz brought in Jaren Jackson for three first-round picks.

The most “ramping up” Charlotte has done in their current build was trading two second-round picks to the Chicago Bulls for Coby White.

That brings us to today: The Hornets have flexibility, a plethora of assets, and a variety of young pieces.

Charlotte GM Jeff Peterson has constantly stressed the importance of not “skipping steps” at basically any chance he gets in front of media.

Even when Kon Knueppel went on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s podcast, he specifically used the same terminology.

“What Jeff talks about a lot is he doesn’t want to skip steps…"

I’d venture to say Peterson uses this lingo in his daily vocabulary in the Hornets’ building.

So why are they still this patient when other teams in a similar spot used their assets to gear up and compete?

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My big picture, Weekly State of the Hive Address:

I can’t help but think here lately this is the biggest offseason the Charlotte Hornets have ever had.

Like, “Husband is eating as much as his pregnant wife and is putting on more than a few extra pounds himself,” kind of big. Maybe a bit too personal a comparison.

I’ll leave it up to you guys to decide which of Charles Lee/Jeff Peterson is the husband, and who is the wife. Neither of them is getting big like I did, at least.

Charlotte’s offseason just gets bigger and more important the more you think about it, though:

A Brandon Miller contract extension that’s looming very soon on the horizon. A draft that’s acclaimed as one of the best since 2003, where you have two top 20 picks. Coby White still needs to secure his own new contract with Charlotte.

All the while, amidst all of this, you have to figure out how to use a savvy trade and your mid-level exception to secure the depth deemed necessary by Jeff Peterson to go and finally secure an outright playoff spot next year.

So much is on the line… and one mishap means you have to recalculate your entire approach.

Don’t know about you guys, but the reason I think about this offseason being so important as often as I do is because I’m so tired of recalculating.

I feel like, around early March in most Hornets’ seasons, we as fans have already had to recalculate. The former front office, at times, didn’t even have enough direction most times to be calculated about anything.

Much less the old front office being worried about REcalculating.

Recalculating their draft boards, maybe.

When I try to think of former Hornets years whose offseasons are comparable to this one, only a few come to mind; one season flashes in my mind more than the others.

I think of the summer in which Charlotte and GM/VP Bob Bass traded away Larry Johnson to New York, just six months after Alonzo Mourning had been traded to Miami in exchange for Glen Rice.

The 1995-1996 season was a doozy, and the Hornets were left in a state of complete transition.

Poor Bob had only been hired in May of 1994. It took all but a year and a half to start pulling off some of the crazy things he did.

To start the ‘95-‘96 season, Alonzo Mourning was traded for Glen Rice the DAY BEFORE the regular season started.

Mourning was traded on 11/3/1995. Charlotte played their first regular-season game against Philadelphia the very next day.

Rice scored 21 PTS, had 7 AST, 6 REB, and 3 STL.

Despite a new addition in Rice, Charlotte finished 41-41 in Allan Bristow’s last season as the Hornets’ head coach, and Bristow and Charlotte “mutually agreed” to part ways in April of 1996 after missing the playoffs.

So, by the time the Hornets get to July 14th, 1996, and trade Larry Johnson to the Knicks…

Both of their own star draftees, Mourning and Johnson, were now gone; they needed a new head coach, and all the while, Glen Rice was sitting in the background needing pieces around him to succeed in his new home.

So Bass did something that ONLY someone who was crazy enough to work under George Shinn could do:

Bass bet on players like PF Anthony Mason from NYK, who nobody believed in at the time besides him.

Bob was batting .1000 on trades that made absolutely no sense to the outside world in the late 90’s and early 00’s.

He did it with such an air of confidence that you wouldn’t believe it, either.

Like, the kind of confidence Elle Woods (if you haven’t seen Legally Blonde, what are you doing?) had when she told her ex, on the first day at Harvard after she was accepted into law school, “What, like it’s hard?”

I don’t know how Bob Bass did it, truly.

I would’ve thrown my hands up in the air and told George Shinn, “What the hell do you expect from me here, Boss?”

I’m sure Shinn would’ve responded with, “Well, use what ‘ya got and go do better than 41-41, which just made me change our coach yet again! You got this, Bob!”

At this point, I personally would’ve thrown a salary cap book (it was 1996 — surely they had those, right?) at Shinn’s face, but Bass rolled up his sleeves and went fishing with a potato chip as bait.

It can’t even stay on the hook. There’s nothing for Bass to use to even draw a big fish in! It’s a godforsaken potato chip! Have you seen what those things do structurally when they hit water?

They get soggy and crumble.

Somehow, this dude Bob Bass found a way to make do with the soggiest, crumbliest (I’m inventing my own verb conjugations now, I think), lousiest bait you could imagine — George Shinn being your owner — and Bass still put Charlotte in a position to win 50 games.

Both of the next two seasons.

I don’t know that I can pick another NBA team in all of history who traded away both their star players in the span of six months and got… better. Like, a lot better.

Bass would also hire head coach Dave Cowens in 1996, who would win 50+ games both of the next two seasons, and win NBA Coach of the Year in his last season with Charlotte.

Cowens did all this while earning the lowest salary of any coach in the NBA.

Bob Bass did it with the lowest payroll (not in terms of salary cap, but in terms of resources) in the entire NBA. He did it, anyway.

This offseason is just as important as 1996 to me, but in a different way. Charlotte drug themselves out of a self-created hole due to Shinn’s notorious stinginess in 1996. Bass became really accustomed to a shovel.

There’s no hole that Jeff Peterson has to dig the Hornets out of this year.

How Jeff’s responsibility differs from that of Bass in 1996 is that Jeff now has the luxury that Bass didn’t have.

The luxury of having financially and MENTALLY secure owners who aren’t stingy. Jeff’s responsibility is to build a safety net that keeps the Hornets from ever BEING in a similar position to that of Bass in 1996.

To me… that’s just as important as the hole Bass had to dig out of.

Had Bass had the opportunity and money to build himself a safety net, he would’ve. But he didn’t, so he couldn’t.

Jeff has already built himself a safety net of picks.

Now, it’s time for Peterson to show he can make big-boy moves — the scary moves — the same moves in which Bass made out of necessity all the time.

Jeff has shown me he can get the war chest of picks up. Now I want him to show me what he can do to get the talent on this roster up.

We’ve got the picks, but right now, what’s more important is that Charlotte already has talent.

It’s time we stop thinking about draft picks alone and start capitalizing on the Hornets’ current collection of cost-controlled talent while the iron’s hot.

In the NBA? You never know when that iron is going to get unplugged out from underneath you.

Most of the time, you don’t even know the iron has gotten cold again until the heat fully dissipates.

By that point…

It’s usually too late. You have to wait for it to warm up again.

You gotta finish ironing that shirt before the heat runs out on you, Jeff.

​If you’re not careful, we’ll be late to church.

The rest of Owen Watterson’s weekly column will be available here at 1:00 PM. Please subscribe to SportCLT for an early preview of the Sermon on the Spectrum (Center) every single week.

The Charlotte Hornets have young talent on their roster. A LOT of young talent. Last offseason, they added four rookie players, all of whom were signed to standard four-year contracts.

The year before that, they used a top-10 pick on Tidjane Salaun, and in 2027’s draft, the Hornets are likely to have another 2-3 first-round draft picks (their own, the Mavericks top-2 protected first-rounder, and Miami’s top-14 protected first-round pick.

So why on earth does it make sense for Charlotte to draft use two top-20 picks this offseason with amount of young talent the Hornets already have (and will be adding just a year from now)? At some point, there’s got to be a roster crunch, right?

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The NBA Draft combine is the single-greatest event for prospects looking to solidify their draft stock prior to June’s draft. Some players use it to best evaluate their options, get feedback from teams, and determine whether they want to return to college.

For others, it’s one of the final opportunities to show why they’re deserving of being drafted. Every prospect is affected, though, and this year’s combine was no different.

For the Hornets specifically, there’s a lot of takeaways about the prospects projected to be selected in the mid-first round.

Winner: Cam Carr, Wing, Baylor

Arguably the biggest winner of the entire combine was Cam Carr. Going into the event, Carr was viewed as a late-teens draft pick, one who could probably step into the NBA and contribute as a 3-and-D wing.

Carr averaged 19/6/3 at Baylor this past season on 49/37/80 shooting splits. Having been in the college game for two years prior to Baylor, the biggest question Carr had to answer is whether his “late breakout” was fluky. Teams will sometimes avoid players who didn’t show much early in their college careers - and Carr appeared in only 18 games for Tennessee in his two seasons prior to transferring to Baylor.

His biggest answer to that question came in the form of Wednesday’s 5-on-5 scrimmages.

Carr was easily the most “different” player on the floor through any of the scrimmage games. He put up 30 points on 18 shots, hitting six 3-point attempts. His shot looked clean and Carr’s athleticism popped. It was akin to watching a player that you know is too good for Summer League.

But that performance only came after Carr measured in, earlier in the week:

6-6 in shoes with a nearly 7-1 wingspan is no joke for a wing. That’s a lot of positional size and length (combined with really high-end athleticism).

There aren’t many true 2/3 wings in this draft class (in fact, I’d make the case that after Dybantsa, there weren’t any that were lottery projected). That left a void to be filled, and Carr looks like the next wing off the board after Dybantsa.

I think he will be in consideration for teams in the lottery, including the Charlotte Hornets at 14.

Going into the combine, Carr’s name is one I was monitoring for the Hornets with their later pick. After the combine, he might not even make it past the 11-13 range.

Loser: Koa Peat, Forward, Arizona

Koa Peat is one of the most interesting players in this entire draft class. He’s got a great frame for a forward, is physical down low, and plays with a lot of effort when he’s on the floor. Peat also works really well as a roll-man in pick-and-roll scenarios, and his short-roll passing is among the best in the class.

At the combine, though, he didn’t accomplish his goal - which was to give any NBA team a reason to believe in his shot.

Peat was just 7-20 on 3-pointers at Arizona this past season. He was just 62% from the free throw line, as well. Even going back to his high school tape, you don’t ever really see any positive shooting indicators. That’s just a skill that’s a necessity for forwards in the current NBA.

The combine was a chance for Peat to at least prove he had some shooting in him, but the shooting drills only worsened his case.

Peat shot 6-25 on spot-up threes (last), 7-25 in the 3-point star drill (3rd-worst), and 10-25 on mid-range jumpers.

I still think Koa Peat would go in the first round if he stays in the draft. But he almost certainly wouldn’t be picked in Charlotte’s draft range.

Winner: Morez Johnson, Forward/Big, Michigan

Morez Johnson was the biggest combine winner throughout measurements and athletic testing, to me.

Going into the combine, Johnson’s measurements were standout among a crowd of players that all measured fairly well.

Johnson measured in at true center height, though: 6-9 without shoes, a solid 250 pounds, and a plus-six wingspan.

It didn’t stop there, as Johnson had a 39-inch max vertical, the 5th-best lane agility time, and shot 17-25 in the 3-point star drill.

Johnson already had top-20 buzz, and similar to Cam Carr, drove his stock up enough to where he might not even be available for the Hornets to take in this draft. There’s a shot he’s taken prior to the 14th pick.

Winner: Hannes Steinbach, Forward/Big, Washington

Steinbach’s measurements were among my most anticipated. After the lottery, my internal alarm bells were ringing as one of the folks over at No Ceilings raised a concern, anticipating Hannes Steinbach’s weight after seeing him at the lottery (I can’t find the exact clip but the podcast is here).

Steinbach, like Morez Johnson, also measured in with true center size. 6-10 with a 7-2 wingspan (and a 248 pound frame) is more than big enough.

Steinbach’s skill set is unique in that he’s not really a shooter, but also doesn’t play stout interior defense, making his position a little bit more murky.

But the functional athleticism, size, and rebounding make it to where I’m fairly confident in projecting him as an NBA center moving forward, which wasn’t the case a few days ago.

Winner: The Charlotte Hornets

I think the Hornets are a massive winner from this week’s combine. As more measurements and testing kept coming in, it became clear that there weren’t many players whose stock would drop considerably.

But the confidence level in getting a highly-coveted piece with the 14th (and 18th) pick rose significantly after seeing players like Carr, Steinbach, and Johnson perform so well throughout the week.

This shortlist also doesn’t include guys like Chris Cenac, Karim Lopez, Tounde Yessoufou, and Jayden Quaintance (all of whom measured very well).

You probably won’t see players such as Aday Mara or Yaxel Lendeborg make it to Charlotte at 14 because of their combine performances, but the likelihood those guys made it to that pick were already slim to begin with.

Even if the change in how much players in the top-20 climbed is marginal, the value on having two picks in that range increased in value, in my opinion.

The Charlotte Hornets have completely revamped the analytical side of their organization since new ownership came into the picture. Behind Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin (who I will be referring to as “Schlotkin” after Locked On Hornets’ Doug Branson coined the term), Jeff Peterson has adopted new-age basketball analytics.

They’ve even gone as far as utilizing AI within their draft process, as was widely covered back in February.

That’s not to say that the current Hornets brain trust is a slave to the numbers: that certainly isn’t the case: I’ll back up that stance in this article, as well.

But analytics are certainly a central figure in their talent evaluation, even if it’s not the invisible hand guiding how their team-specific big board looks.

In this article, I’m going to do a few things:

1. Create an analytics model based on known traits the Hornets prioritize.

2. Analyze where the model and where the 2025 Hornets’ draft class would have landed within it.

3. Use the model to predict who the Hornets could be targeting in this year’s draft class.

4. Look over the model’s flaws and where I could see the Hornets diverging from it.

Let’s get into it.

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A day after the NBA Draft Lottery wrapped up, reports started circulating that the Milwaukee Bucks are “open for business” when it comes to trade offers for two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.

This has been brewing for months. Rumors really started heating up around this year’s trade deadline, but Milwaukee ultimately decided to wait it out, believing the offseason market, and the trade packages attached to it, would be stronger than anything available in February.

They’re probably right.

Not only is this draft class being hyped as one of the strongest in recent memory, but there are also several teams desperate to take the next step.

The Timberwolves, Lakers, and Knicks are all searching for the move that finally pushes them over the hump. The Nuggets, Heat, and Warriors are trying to squeeze one more championship run out of their current cores. Then you have the wildcards like Boston, Toronto, and Houston — teams where a blockbuster move wouldn’t exactly shock anyone.

And looming over everybody are Oklahoma City and San Antonio, two franchises loaded with assets and positioned to dominate the NBA for the foreseeable future.

So where does Charlotte fit into all of this?

At the start of the calendar year, the Hornets looked destined for another trip to the top half of the lottery. Instead, they exploded into one of the NBA’s hottest teams during the second half of the season, powered by the emergence of LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and the people’s choice for Rookie of the Year, Kon Knueppel.

Which raises the question:

Is little ol’ Charlotte really in position to look at this young core and say, “Let’s shake things up and trade for Giannis?”

Would Giannis even want to come here? Has this organization earned that kind of respect yet?

I don’t know.

But what I do know is that this idea isn’t nearly as crazy as it sounds.

First things first: Ball, Miller, and Knueppel should be untouchable in any deal for the Bucks star.

Giannis effectively has one guaranteed year left before his 2027-28 player option enters the conversation, and Charlotte simply cannot risk moving one of those three only to watch Giannis walk a year later.

But that doesn’t mean negotiations have to end there.

If Milwaukee is truly headed toward a rebuild, their biggest problem isn’t finding a star player in return. It’s finding the draft capital necessary to build a sustainable future.

And that’s where Charlotte suddenly becomes interesting.

The Hornets are loaded with picks. They own two first-rounders this year, plus three more next season: their own, Dallas’ pick (top-two protected), and Miami’s pick (lottery protected). Two firsts in 2029 and they have their own first-rounder for the next seven seasons.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee’s future draft situation is rough.

The Bucks currently have no first-round picks in 2027 or 2029, a complicated situation surrounding their 2028 pick protections, and — somehow — zero second-round picks through 2032. Ironically, Charlotte owns two of those Bucks second-rounders already.

Even if Milwaukee were to land a player like Brandon Miller in a hypothetical deal, how much does that really help if they still lack the flexibility and draft capital to build around him?

That reality lowers Milwaukee’s leverage more than people probably realize.

Because of that, the eventual Giannis package may end up looking a lot smaller than fans expect. At least, in terms receiving a star or promising young player in return.

Charlotte could potentially capitalize on that by keeping its young core intact while helping Milwaukee jumpstart a rebuild with picks, financial flexibility, and veterans.

There simply aren’t many teams positioned to offer that combination.

So yes, we’re talking about a deal centered around Miles Bridges, thank you for your service, along with a few rotation players, some salary filler, and a mountain of draft picks.

Add a couple second-rounders to sweeten the deal, and honestly? That could end up being one of the better offers that crosses Jon Horst’s desk.

The obvious question then becomes: would Giannis even want this?

And what happens if he leaves after one season?

Those are completely fair concerns.

But Giannis has always come across as a relatively low-key superstar. Charlotte honestly feels like a city he’d enjoy. Most players who spend real time here end up loving it.

The fanbase would absolutely embrace him, too. Look at the atmosphere surrounding the Hornets this season despite the team hovering around .500. Night after night, Spectrum Center felt alive again. National conversations were even starting to mention Charlotte as one of the better crowds in the NBA.

And respectfully — no Milwaukee slander intended — Giannis wouldn’t exactly be leaving the spotlight of Los Angeles or Miami behind.

There are basketball reasons this could make sense too.

Charles Lee already has a relationship with Giannis from their championship run together in Milwaukee back in 2021. Pat Connaughton also spent this past season around the Hornets organization and is probably still in a couple Bucks groupchats where he could put in a word or two.

Then there’s the fit on the court.

LaMelo Ball throwing lobs to Giannis in transition sounds unfair. Knueppel spacing the floor as a sniper. Brandon Miller attacking tilted defenses and taking over late-game situations.

That trio around Giannis could be terrifying offensively. It’s a near perfect fit.

Long story short: Charlotte could absolutely make a convincing pitch.

Now, do I think Hornets GM Jeff Peterson seriously entertains this?

Probably not.

Peterson has been incredibly calculated since arriving in Charlotte. He’ll almost certainly do his due diligence, make the phone call, and gauge Milwaukee’s asking price. But putting together a truly aggressive offer? That feels unlikely.

We’ve heard him repeat the same philosophy constantly: you can’t skip steps.

And trading for Giannis may be like jumping up the last 5. Don’t slip!

It’s also important to remember where Peterson came from.

Before Charlotte, he had a front-row seat in Brooklyn watching a promising, fun Nets team pivot into a superstar-driven experiment led by Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. That team never even reached the Eastern Conference Finals.

Though technically, they advanced further than the young core ever did.

But was it actually worth it?

Look at where Brooklyn has ended up afterward. It ain’t pretty.

Peterson likely wants to avoid that exact scenario: abandoning a carefully built foundation for a win-now swing that completely changes the organization’s DNA. Because if that gamble fails, it can set a franchise back for years.

Still, it’s hard not to dream a little.

For now, we’ll keep imagining LaMelo-to-Giannis alley-oops while Eric Collins completely loses his mind on the call. Got chills writing that.

And honestly? Until Giannis ends up somewhere that isn’t Charlotte, the dream is alive.