Longest NBA playoff droughts: How Hornets can snap record with win over Magic originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Contention has evaded the Charlotte Hornets since the days of Kemba Walker.
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Despite having some solid talent roll through North Carolina, from LaMelo Ball and Kon Knueppel to Gordon Hayward and Terry Rozier, the Hornets have struggled to remain in playoff contention — until, all of a sudden, they’ve surged in the second half of the 2025-26 season.
Entering Friday’s Play-In Tournament game against the Orlando Magic, all it will take is one Hornets win to break the longest playoff cold spell in the NBA.
Here’s a look at the NBA’s longest playoff drought and the last time the Hornets made the bracket.
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Longest NBA playoff droughts
Because Play-In Tournament berths are not considered a playoff appearance, the Hornets will have to officially make the 2025-26 first round to officially break their drought, which is the longest in the NBA.
Charlotte hasn’t made the playoffs in any of the last nine seasons. Should the Hornets loss to the Magic in the Play-In Tournament, that number would increase to a full decade’s worth of non-playoff seasons.
However, if the Hornets do make the playoffs, there will be a new longest playoff drought in the NBA owned by the Washington Wizards at five seasons. The last time the Wizards made the playoffs was in 2021, when a Bradley Beal-Russell Westbrook-led squad was taken down by the 76ers in the first round.
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The Utah Jazz and Chicago Bulls both last made the playoffs in 2022, while the Brooklyn Nets and Sacramento Kings last made it in 2023.
Rank
Team
Last Playoff Appearance
Drought (Seasons)
1
Charlotte Hornets
2016
9
2
Washington Wizards
2021
5
T-3
Utah Jazz
2022
4
T-3
Chicago Bulls
2022
4
T-5
Brooklyn Nets
2023
3
T-5
Sacramento Kings
2023
3
SN AWARDS:Victor Wembanyama Player of the Year | Joe Mazzulla Coach of the Year
When was the last time the Hornets made the playoffs?
The last time the Hornets made the playoffs was in the 2015-16 season, when Kemba Walker’s 20.9 points per game guided the team to the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference at 48-34.
Charlotte, which was also led by Al Jefferson, Nicholas Batum, Jeremy Lin and Cody Zeller, was matched up against the third-seeded Miami Heat in Round 1, but the Hornets lost in Game 7 when Goran Dragic put up 25 points in a blowout Heat win.
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