Nov 25, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Charlotte Hornets forward Brandon Miller (24) drives past Orlando Magic center Moritz Wagner (21) and forward Franz Wagner (22) during the first half at the Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Sam Sharpe-Imagn Images Sam Sharpe-Imagn Images

3 Hornets outcomes: Dream, nightmare, and realistic seasons in 2025-26

Originally posted on Charlotte Hornets on SI
By Zach Roberts | Last updated Sep 1, 2025 12:00 PM ET

What does 2025-26 hold for the Charlotte Hornets? That remains anyone's guess, even after an exciting offseason full of big changes. They could be pretty good, but in typical Hornets fashion, they could also be pretty bad. What are the three possible outcomes?

Dream season for the Charlotte Hornets

The true dream would be the Hornets being better than they ever have and becoming a legitimate playoff team, but that's just not possible this year. But within the confines of what Charlotte has, a dream season would be finishing .500.

The schedule is not great, but this team does have enough talent to finish better than they did last year. What if LaMelo Ball has a career year? What if Kon Knueppel is a Rookie of the Year player, and Brandon Miller has a year-three breakout? What if Collin Sexton and others in contract years have great seasons?

Then the Hornets would be a pretty solid team, finishing 41-41 and making the Play-in Tournament as the seventh seed, which would be a huge, impressive win for the organization.

Nightmare Hornets season

As we all know too well, things can and do go wrong for the Hornets a ton. LaMelo Ball can get injured next year and miss 40 games. Brandon Miller might not be the same after getting hurt. Tre Mann's back might never be healed. Kon Knueppel might not translate to the NBA. The new acquisitions could fail to gel.

Those things certainly seem feasible based on Charlotte's history, and just a couple of them happening would derail the entire 2025-26 season. And if the worst ones happen, then Charlotte might not do much better than 19 wins and finish somewhere around 23-59 in an utter disaster that reshapes how everything is done.

Realistic scenario

As always, the realistic outcome is going to be somewhere in the middle. The Hornets aren't going to finish with a similar record to 2024-25, but they're also not touching .500 or the seventh seed. They'd be lucky to do that.

LaMelo Ball will play more games, but he won't play all of them. Kon Knueppel won't be the Rookie of the Year, but he also isn't going to be a total bust. Brandon Miller should be fine coming back, and the new acquisitions won't all flame out. That puts the Hornets right around 36-46 for the season.