The 2024-2025 NBA season is here! We analyze the biggest questions, best- and worst-case scenarios, and fantasy prospects for all 30 teams. Enjoy!
CHARLOTTE HORNETS
End 2023-24
Off-season moves
-
Additions: Josh Green, Taj Gibson, Tidjane Salaün, Charlie Brown Jr., DaQuan Jeffries, Duane Washington Jr.
-
Deductions: Davis Bertans, Aleksej Pokusevski, Bryce McGowens, JT Thor
-
Complete roster
The big question: Is LaMelo Ball the player to lead the Hornets?
Midway through the 2021-2022 season, many people were calling the Charlotte Hornets’ No. 3 overall selection of LaMelo Ball a rousing success. The 2021 Rookie of the Year became the first member of his draft class – which also includes Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton – to make the All-Star Game. He was on his way to superstardom, averaging 20-7-8 and shooting 39% on 7.5 three-point attempts per game.
Ball has played a total of 58 games since then as ankle injuries ended each of his past two seasons. His five-year contract, with a maximum value of $204 million, starts this season, the fifth year of his career. When he was on the pitch, only Luka Dončić had a higher usage rate. The ball didn’t take care of the ball and didn’t shoot efficiently.
There should be no greater disadvantage to an offense than a point guard who is overused and has little efficiency. And to say the least, Ball wasn’t a great defender either. The Hornets posted the equivalent of the league’s worst-rated defense when Ball was on the court. The offense wasn’t much better, and they were outscored by 8.4 points per 100 possessions in his 32.3 minutes per game. By definition, this is losing basketball.
It didn’t help that Ball’s second and third options last season were Miles Bridges and Brandon Miller. Bridges was coming off a one-year suspension for domestic violence. Miller, who had off-the-field issues of his own, was a rookie. The three combined were outscored by 12.9 points per 100 possessions.
Charlotte is not without talent. Miller looks like he should be a future All-Star. Mark Williams, the team’s 2022 lottery pick, could be a solid starting center if he ever stays healthy. The Hornets added French wing Tidjane Salaün with this year’s No. 6 overall pick. They have smartly targeted a trio of young players – Grant Williams, Josh Green and Tre Mann – in trades over the past eight months. These are the bones of a basketball team.
But is Ball the one leading them? The Hornets have little other choice. Even though Miller is emerging as the clear face of the franchise this season, Ball beat him to it, making an All-Star appearance and acting like he’s The Man – with the paycheck to make his case. For better or worse, this is Ball’s team.
Update: So far it’s gotten worse. Ball may be a 6-foot-1 point guard with a creative flair for playmaking – the raw tools that made him such a coveted prospect – but in practice he has produced one of the worst assist-to-turnover ratios in any starting point guard. . He is not an efficient scorer at the rim or from the midrange, and his three-point percentage fell below league average last season.
In an August 2021 GQ article calling Ball “the best young player in the NBA,” former Hornets coach James Borrego admitted that the organization was trying to instill professionalism in Ball. “The habit of being on time. Not skipping a strength session. Studying your playbook. Knowing your game,” he said. “Let’s not wait three or four years, when he’s too far gone and already a star. Then you can’t bring him back.”
Three years and two coaches later, what have we seen from Ball to convince us that he has developed in this regard? Is he too far away? That’s the question the Hornets have to answer this season. And they better make their decision better than the rest of the league or risk losing his trade value as well.
At best
Miller is undeniably the future of the franchise. Salaün is also showing promise, and suddenly the Hornets have two slender wings to build a roster around. Ball either takes everyone around him to the next level, or the front office makes room for someone who can. They discover a few useful role players from the pool of remaining young talent, and first-year head coach Charles Lee convinces everyone to commit to defense. The Hornets look like a team ready to break out, but that’s not the case and instead adds another lottery pick.
When everything falls apart
Ball’s widely used, low-efficiency brand of basketball is here to stay. Bridges believes his status as the longest-tenured member of the Hornets also brings him plenty of perks. This hinders the development of Miller and Salaün. Individualism permeates the locker room, and the rest of a young squad checks out. Except the Eastern Conference is so bad that the Hornets sneak into the play-in tournament, where they forfeited a first-round draft pick to the San Antonio Spurs because they wanted Kai Jones so badly in 2021.
Fantasy twist
Ball has first-round potential if he can stay healthy. He now wears ankle braces to correct the ankle problems that have plagued him the past two seasons. In the late second round, Ball’s ADP could still be valuable, especially considering how he looked in the preseason. Bridges advances to the late fifth round, consistent with his 58th overall finish in nine categories.
Miller is the third star in the making. After a strong rookie campaign, he is drafted in the early sixth round. Miller proved he could be a three-level scorer and a good perimeter defender, so fantasy managers can feel comfortable taking him mid-round.
Williams’ inability to stay healthy drops his fantasy stock to the mid-ninth round. I can look at the appeal from a positive standpoint, but with an injury history like his, it’s a risky choice. I prefer Zach Edey or even Draymond Green over ADP. — Then Titus
Schedule 2024-25
The Hornets have every incentive to develop young players and lose games. Take the bottom.
