Especially with the NBA’s new rules and regulations against tanking, the New York Knicks will have more teams after them next season than they’re used to. The team ended a 53-year title drought by winning the 2026 NBA Championship, leaving 29 teams in hopes of reaching their heights. And it’s impossible to realize that dream without displacing the Knicks from their top spot.
The Charlotte Hornets were one of the NBA’s most fun watches last season, in part because they were potentially the league’s youngest, hottest, and highest-octane team offensively when LaMelo Ball was on the court. With other promising young pieces like wing Brandon Miller and rookie swingman Kon Knueppel in tow, Charlotte seemed indubitably headed on their way up.
The Hornets wound up deciding to kick the can down the proverbial road a bit, trading Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves this offseason for New Jersey native Naz Reid and a pair of first-round draft picks. They’ve still got talent, but the defending NBA Champions don’t need to worry about the Hornets in 2027. Without Ball’s elite and wily shot creation around to wreak havoc on the Knicks’ defense, no matter how schematically sound, it’s going to be tough for the rest of that young core to look as promising.
Hornets shifted their window in part because this East is so brutal
It’s hard to blame the Hornets for seeing contention as unattainable, given just how great teams like the Knicks are playing at such a high level on both ends of the court.
Charlotte started last season with a 16-28 record, making even the NBA Play-In Tournament seem like a far-fetched goal in their second year under head coach Charles Lee. They responded, however, with a 27-8 run over their next 35 games that brought them to 43-36 before the end of the year.
They dropped two of their final three regular season games, with the lone win coming against the Knicks themselves in the final game of the season (in which Mikal Bridges checked out as soon as possible and the rest of New York’s starters sat). But they made the Play-In Tournament and took the Miami Heat to overtime, squeaking by with a one-point victory.
They were then, however, blown out by the Orlando Magic. They earned the eighth seed, ruining Charlotte’s hopes of making the actual playoffs — again.
Instead of continuing to run into the same wall, the Hornets seemingly decided to lean into the potential that Knueppel showed in his rookie season and shift their focus onto him as the centerpiece of their roster. They traded Miles Bridges to the Phoenix Suns for another first-round draft selection, setting themselves up nicely with a restocked war chest for the next time they decide to push toward contention.
Reid is a gifted player. Knicks All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns knows him well from their days on the Minnesota Timberwolves. But those same Timberwolves were proven incredibly wrong for betting that Reid could supplant Towns in their starting lineup.
The Hornets have the potential to become a true force by the end of the decade. By then, though, the Knicks might already be sitting on two NBA titles in the 2020s. At the absolute worst, they already have one. Only time will tell how things shake out going forward, but Charlotte won’t be threatening New York’s title defense this season.
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