Charlotte Hornets' Biggest Needs Ahead of 2026 NBA Draft
Coming off a strong final few months of the season, the Charlotte Hornets finally have a core they can build around.
Adding two top-18 picks will only increase the team's depth and help shore up arguably their biggest weakness.
The Hornets led the NBA in made threes last season (16.4 per game), as their 37.8 percent clip ranked third overall. Interior scoring took a hit, however, as Charlotte finished 29th in made twos, while a 53.8 percent mark from inside the arc ranked just 21st in the league.
Three-point shooting is obviously important in the NBA today, although the Hornets could still use more interior scoring to balance their offense.
2025-26 Record: 44-38
Draft Picks: 14, 18
Re-Sign Coby White
It started before he arrived, but Coby White was a crucial part of the Charlotte Hornets' late-season surge toward the playoffs.
In 21 games as a Hornet, he averaged 15.6 points and 3.0 assists in 19.3 minutes, while shooting 39.1 percent from deep.
But he's a free agent now, which would make Charlotte's second unit woefully short on offense without him.
On the open market, White will certainly command more than the $12.9 million he made in 2025-26, but the Hornets have his Bird rights and don't really have any onerous money on the books. They need to bring him back.
Center
Ryan Kalkbrenner was better than expected as a rookie. Moussa Diabaté's athleticism and aggressiveness helped Charlotte close the season as one of the hottest teams in the league, but center still feels like a spot where the Hornets can improve.
A 5 with an outside shot could be awfully dangerous in lineups with LaMelo Ball. While Charlotte got a bit of that from small-ball alignments with Grant Williams, he's barely 6'7". A bigger shooter who doesn't cost the team much in the rebounding and rim protection departments would go a long way.
Defense
The Hornets nearly finished the season with a top-10 defense, but their two best players (arguably) are Ball and Kon Knueppel, both of whom could use some cover on that end of the floor.
That may come, at least to some degree, from the development of Knueppel and Brandon Miller, but another wing, one who's more defensively minded, wouldn't hurt.
