Former NBA player Rashad McCants has been high on the Charlotte Hornets since the start of the season. Unfortunately for him, after the Hornets won the 2025 NBA Summer League title, they started the season slowly and fell far behind in the team standings.

Now that the Hornets are starting to put together wins, McCants is making noise again.

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In a recent tweet on “X’, the former Minnesota Timberwolves guard claimed that the Hornets are better than the Milwaukee Bucks, and they are easily a playoff team if only they had a big man like Zach Edey.

A big man like Zach would improve the Hornets’ Bottom 10 defense

Edey was the Memphis Grizzlies’ 9th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. The former Purdue star finished 5th in the 2025 Rookie of the Year voting with averages of 9.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game. In his second year, Edey is posting a double-double with 13.6 points and 11.1 rebounds per game, while also blocking 2 shots per contest. He has been limited to 11 games so far due to an ankle injury.

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It’s unclear whether McCants is pushing for the Hornets to trade for Edey or just using him as an example of who Charlotte needs. He has a valid point because they rank 23rd in the league in defensive rating at 116.6 points per 100 possessions allowed and 24th in defensive field goal percentage at 48.0 percent allowed.

Having a 7’3″ guy with a defensive rating of 108 on the 2025-26 Hornets team could change their fortunes. But there are no talks linking him to trade rumors, and he has not played since December 7th after suffering a left ankle injury.

Hornets may be one big man away from becoming a playoff team

Meanwhile, the Hornets are 15-26 on the season and are four games behind the 9th and 10th seeds in the East, so they are still pretty much in the play-in hunt. Charlotte has gone 8-8 in their last 16 games with wins over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, OKC Thunder, and Los Angeles Lakers during that stretch. In their last game, they took down the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena behind a scintillating 27-point second-half performance by LaMelo Ball.

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“I mean, with the record and everything, we know it’s not what it’s supposed to be. But like we said, we’re just gonna keep going and try to stack these wins,” Ball said after the game.

Just several games ago, many pundits wanted LaMelo to demand a trade after he was demoted to a bench role during a game against the Pacers.  But since then, he’s averaged 27 points per game and has looked every bit of the franchise player that he is supposed to be.

For a long time, many have argued that the Hornets have not found success during the LaMelo era because they have not surrounded him with a good team. With Brandon Miller, Kon Knueppel, and Miles Bridges, plus veterans Collin Sexton, Tre Mann, and Grant Williams, the Hornets have a solid lineup and, as McCants said, may be a big man away from being a playoff team.

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Related: Lou Williams blames the Grizzlies for continuously tarnishing Ja Morant’s image

This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Jan 17, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.