Mar 21, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Charlotte Hornets head coach Charles Lee gestures to his team during a play against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second half at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Another lottery ticket? Why the Hornets will wait one more year to go all-in

Originally posted on Charlotte Hornets on SI
By Zach Roberts | Last updated Aug 22, 2025 9:52 AM ET

The Charlotte Hornets seem to finally have the pieces in place to really get some forward momentum. They have three young core players in LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and Kon Knueppel, and they are poised to be the base of what could be a pretty intriguing team this year.

Without a center, the Hornets are probably not going to do a whole lot this season, but there are trades out there to fill that void. And the Hornets do have a good cache of assets they could deal from to get an impact center and make this team a potentially legitimate squad this year.

They probably won't do that, though.

Why the Hornets are going to wait to push the chips in

The Hornets could make a big trade for someone like Nic Claxton or Jarrett Allen, both of whom would immediately make the Hornets a legitimate playoff team in the East. That would probably be jumping the gun, though.

GM Jeff Peterson has carefully been adding draft picks for the future, and he's said he will someday push them in and go after a big player to really raise the floor and ceiling of this roster. That will happen, just not right now.

The Hornets have basically been rebuilding since 2019, but you could argue that this is really the first year they've leaned into it. The rest of the time wa s probably front office malpractice. It's also just Jeff Peterson's second year on the job, so he is really starting fresh here.

Plus, there's no reason the Hornets have to be good this year. They were bad in 2024-25, and they want to be good in the next few years, so what's the rush? They can be decent or even bad again in 2025-26 and still be doing fine with the rebuild.

The roster has a ton of young, interesting pieces: LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, Kon Knueppel , Tidjane Salaun, Ryan Kalkbrenner, Liam McNeeley, Moussa Diabate , and KJ Simpson. Now imagine that with one of the 10 to 12 best prospects from the deep 2026 draft class.

The Hornets will not be good enough to make the postseason without cashing in their chips and getting an impact player now, so why not wait and stockpile more ammo all while adding another great young prospect? Patience really is a virtue.