The Charlotte Hornets have a legitimate center competition

Charles Lee admitted he will "always have an open mind" as to who's going to start at the center spot. Either way, both will play a similar amount of minutes, but one has to start.

"We gotta do what's best for the team and what's gonna put us in the best position to be successful on that game day. So yes, there could be some starts, there could be some 30-minute [games] for him, there could be anything," the head coach revealed.

With Diabate on the court, the Hornets are 7.1 points better, per Cleaning the Glass. That translates to 17 expected wins. Surprisingly, the Hornets are better with Kalkbrenner off the floor, but his numbers are solid.

Kalkbrenner leads the team in effective field goal percentage and true shooting. He is second in PACE and has a higher player impact estimate than Brandon Miller, Sion James, and some other Hornets.

The five-man starting unit with Kalkbrenner (so LaMelo Ball, Miles Bridges, Kon Knueppel, and Brandon Miller) has a positive 4.4 net rating. The offensive rating is 121.9, and the defensive rating is 117.5. Those are good numbers.

When you sub Diabate in for Kalkbrenner, those numbers get even better. The offensive rating skyrockets to 136.5, and the defensive rating drops to 103.9. That's an astonishing 32.6 net rating. That's one of the best lineups the Hornets have available to them.

Kalkbrenner has struggled some lately, so his numbers have definitely dipped. And when looking at all the advanced stats, Diabate seems to be the right choice for the starting center. In time, though, Kalkbrenner will get better with experience.

For now, it looks like Diabate should be the starter, but it's good that this is even a debate or conversation. For a long time, the Hornets struggled to find even one center.