{"id":199578,"date":"2026-06-08T15:24:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T19:24:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=199578"},"modified":"2026-06-08T15:24:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T19:24:35","slug":"3-questions-hornets-2026-nba-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/06\/08\/3-questions-hornets-2026-nba-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Burning Questions For The Charlotte Hornets Entering 2026 NBA Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Charlotte Hornets enter the 2026 NBA Draft<\/a> with plenty of questions that still need to be answered. After a promising season defined by star players staying healthy and a strong 2025 NBA Draft class, it’s starting to look like this young core is finally ready to take the next step.<\/p>\n

No matter which Hornets mock draft you look at, it’s always going to have a different set of players at No. 14 and No. 18. There’s a plethora of ways team president Jeff Peterson and Charlotte could attack this draft. With that, three questions will ultimately define how they approach draft night.<\/p>\n

3 Burning Questions For The Charlotte Hornets Entering 2026 NBA Draft<\/h2>\n

Which Position Group Will The Hornets Target In The First Round?<\/h3>\n

The Hornets enter the first round without a glaring need in the starting lineup. LaMelo Ball<\/a>, Kon Knueppel<\/a>, and Brandon Miller<\/a> are all foundational pieces who have cemented themselves for the future. Moussa Diabate<\/a> just won NBA Hustle Player of the Year, while Miles Bridges<\/a> has been a steady contributor at times despite the trade noise.<\/p>\n

There is an argument that the frontcourt could use an upgrade. Bridges could be on the chopping block as early as next trade deadline, and Diabate has been bullied in the paint by bigger centers. With that said, no rookie is going to step in and take their starting spot immediately.<\/p>\n

There’s also a potential to add another ballhandler behind Ball. They had a secondary ball-handler this past season in Coby White<\/a>, who was huge for the Hornets. The hope is that White is re-signed by the Hornets<\/a> later in the offseason, but that’s also not a guarantee. Adding a guard with one of the two first-round picks isn’t out of the question, especially with Peterson’s strong interest in the guards in this class.<\/p>\n

This gives Peterson the freedom to draft the best player available. In my opinion, adding one frontcourt player is a must. Whether that be a shooting big, or an elite rim-protector, the Hornets need upside there.<\/p>\n

Does Positional Scarcity Factor Into Peterson\u2019s Draft Board?<\/h3>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Luckily, positional scarcity shouldn’t factor into the Hornets’ draft board too much. Wing depth isn’t a huge priority for Charlotte. Outside of AJ Dybantsa<\/a>, it will be hard to justify a lottery pick on another wing prospect (unless they really like Nate Ament<\/a> or Cameron Carr<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Since there are plenty of guards and bigs worthy of a lottery pick, it makes more sense to take a look that way. Peterson shouldn’t have to force a pick in this draft, and with this roster, even if the board doesn’t fall his way.<\/p>\n

Will Jeff Peterson Do Anything Outside The Status Quo?<\/h3>\n

Charlotte has the assets to potentially move up in this year’s draft. With the No. 14 and No. 18 picks<\/a>, along with a variety of future draft picks, the Hornets are definitely a team to watch for on draft night.<\/p>\n

The roster is beginning to stabilize, so Peterson could package 14 and 18 for a prized prospect a few picks higher. For example, if the Hornets take the view that the talent tier is higher at the 9-10 range, then trading up makes complete sense. Landing someone like Aday Mara<\/a> if he drops down the board is a perfect target for Charlotte.<\/p>\n

Featured Image: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Charlotte Hornets enter the 2026 NBA Draft with plenty of questions that still need to be answered. After a promising season defined by star players staying healthy and a strong 2025 NBA Draft class, it’s starting to look like this young core is finally ready to take the next step. No matter which Hornets […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5878,"featured_media":199626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,7,62],"tags":[49942,1782,49093,823,4659],"class_list":["post-199578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-hornets","category-nba","tag-2026-nba-draft","tag-coby-white","tag-jeff-peterson","tag-lamelo-ball","tag-moussa-diabate"],"modified_by":"Benjamin Yu","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5878"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199578"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":199629,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199578\/revisions\/199629"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}