Aug. 24, 2026, 3:23 p.m. ET
The Charlotte Hornets improved by 25 wins during the 2025-26 NBA season.ESPN predicts the Hornets will win 10 fewer games in the 2026-27 season after trading key players.The projected 34-48 record would place Charlotte 11th in the Eastern Conference.Charlotte aims to break its long-standing playoff drought with a mix of young talent and veteran players.
The Charlotte Hornets were the biggest surprise throughout the 2025-26 NBA season, making a 25-win improvement from the 2024-25 campaign. As a result, Charlotte jumped from a 19-win team to a 44-win squad, finishing ninth in the Eastern Conference.
However, after trading away LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges, is last season’s success sustainable? ESPN doesn’t seem to think so. ESPN’s NBA insiders recently collaborated to predict the records of all 30 teams, and their results didn’t favor Charlotte.
The Hornets’ record dropped considerably from their spot last year, as ESPN predicted that Charlotte would finish with a 34-48 season, 10 wins off of last year’s total. This put the Hornets 11th in the East, three games ahead of the Washington Wizards. However, Charlotte was still quite far from the final spot in the NBA Play-In Tournament, as the No. 10-ranked Orlando Magic were predicted to finish 10 games better than the Hornets.
While Charlotte may not be favorites to break their playoff drought that spans back to the 2015-16 season, their young talent and experienced veterans give them a new dynamic and another chance to prove doubters wrong heading into the 2026-27 season this fall.
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