5 bold predictions for the Charlotte Hornets 2025-26 NBA campaign

Basketball season has arrived.

After six months of nothing but Shams notifications, draft prospect scouting, a summer league championship, and some encouraging preseason highlights, the Charlotte Hornets are at long last gearing up for a regular season game that matters.

With the regular season rapidly approaching, season predictions are as hot as ever. I've gazed into my personal crystal ball and have found five Hornets specific prognostications for you to ruminate on over the next 24 hours before they are proven wrong six minutes into the first quarter. Off we go!

1. LaMelo Ball makes the All-Star Game

LaMelo Ball can execute some maneuvers on a basketball court that would make the Harlem Globetrotters blush.

The mercurial point guard is liable to do something the league has never seen on a nightly basis, and if you combine his otherworldly talent and creativity with some improved efficiency and a few more wins for his team, he'll inevitably begin to garner some respect from people who consume the game outside of Tik Tok highlights.

I believe all of the above will happen.

Jeff Peterson attacked the offseason with the goal of easing the burden on LaMelo's shoulders in mind. The process bared fruit in the preseason as his Hornets hooped like they were playing with Zac Efron on the East High Wildcats: they were all in it together.

Charlotte's egalitarian offensive approach will accentuate the strengths of their star point guard, and in an Eastern Conference desperate for a star to rise, LaMelo will answer the call and headline the All -Star game for the second time in his young career.

2. Pat Connaughton finishes the season in a different uniform

A major reason that Charlotte kept Connaughton over Spencer Dinwiddie is the difference in their contracts.

Connaughton is set to earn ~$9 million on a contract that expires at the end of the season, making his deal one of the more tradeable assets on Charlotte's books. Jeff Peterson has never shied away from getting involved in facilitating a multi-team deal that nets future draft capital in Charlotte, and I believe he will move Connaughton around the trade deadline to do just that.

3. Charlotte finishes with a top 20 offense

I'm drinking all of the preseason Kool-Aid.

The Hornets offense was buzzing in the preseason, flying up and down the court at warp speed with their eyes on getting up shots early in possessions. It was an unquestioned success as Charlotte finished with the 8th ranked offense in scrimmage play.

Although the preseason is a small sample size, the eye test matched the chatter around the franchise this offseason. Charles Lee has his team fully bought in on this pace-and-space brand of basketball, and the organizational alignment gives me confidence that the success will trickle into the regular season.

4. Ryan Kalkbrenner makes an All-Rookie team

Kalkbrenner played some great ball in preseason play. He'll have the opportunity to parlay that impressive preseason campaign into big-time regular season minutes in Charlotte's thin front court that includes him, assumed starter Moussa Diabate, and an aging Miles Plumlee.

In those minutes, Kalkbrenner will rack up some impressive counting stats, and by doing so, he will be key in Charlotte outproducing the paltry expectations placed on their center rotation.

The role and the stats will coalesce into a season that earns recognition from the NBA media at-large, making Kalkbrenner the 16th Hornet/Bobcat to earn an All-Rookie nod.

5. Charlotte plays meaningful basketball into April

I don't believe the Hornets will make the Play-In Tournament, but I do think they'll come close.

The flattened NBA Draft lottery odds have disincentivized tanking. If the Hornets remain healthy for the majority of the season, they have enough offensive firepower to rack up wins in a weakened Eastern Conference and push for a chance at making the playoffs for the first time in a decade.

Even if they finish 11th in the East, just out of the Play-In, there is a chance that they will still boast top seven odds in the 2026 NBA Draft lottery due to the glut of talented teams in the West. The team can have their cake and eat it too by showing legitimate on-court improvements and give themselves a shot at one of the assumed franchise-altering talents at the top of the 2026 NBA Draft.

The vibes are great in Charlotte right now. Good vibes don't always translate to wins, but now is the time to project some rare success onto the professional basketball outfit in the Queen City because once they hit the floor...anything can happen.