It has been quite the offseason for the Charlotte Hornets , who missed the playoffs by just one game last season.
The Hornets traded LaMelo Ball and Josh Green to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Naz Reid , Miles Bridges to the Phoenix Suns for Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale and Tre Mann to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Dennis Schroder .
Charlotte also re-signed Coby White , acquired Dorian Finney-Smith from the Houston Rockets and drafted Hannes Steinbach and Christian Anderson in the 2026 NBA Draft.
It appears the Hornets are done making moves this offseason, so Law Murray of The Athletic ranked Charles Lee's group a top-20 team after their summer moves.
Murray has Charlotte at No. 19.
"Depth is not a problem in Charlotte," Murray wrote. "Coby White is the new starting point guard, and Brandon Miller will get to show he can be at the top of the food chain. The Ball era appeared to have hit its ceiling. Now, the Hornets have to show they can carry over the same success they had in the second half of last season without Ball."
The Hornets are expected to start White, Brandon Miller , Kon Knueppel , Reid and Moussa Diabate and use Schroder, Allen, O'Neale, Grant Williams, Steinbach and Ryan Kalkbrenner as their primary bench players next season.
Some Charlotte fans weren't happy with the Ball trade, but Hornets president of basketball operations and general manager Jeff Peterson told Marc J. Spears of Andscape he was comfortable trading Ball because of Miller and Knueppel.
With Ball gone, Miller and Knueppel will see increased usage rates offensively.
"I'm very comfortable," Peterson said. "Charles and I had a conversation with both of them knowing that these trades can be challenging. Sometimes I do think we forget that we're human beings dealing with this stuff — lives and its emotions. Those guys are friends and they are in the locker room every day. At the same time, Charles and I kind of explained, We believe in you guys, too. You guys are here. We want to continue to see you guys grow. This is going to challenge you guys. You guys got to continue to get better.' We wouldn't have made that trade if we didn't feel comfortable with what they can continue to be developing into."
The Hornets never made the playoffs in the Ball-Bridges era. It will be fascinating to see if Charlotte makes the playoffs next season with White, Miller, Knueppel and Reid leading the way.
Charlotte opens the 2026-27 season on the road against the Brooklyn Nets. The home opener is against the Atlanta Hawks.
