{"id":201636,"date":"2026-06-22T13:54:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T17:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=201636"},"modified":"2026-06-22T13:54:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T17:54:34","slug":"hornets-prospects-avoid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/06\/22\/hornets-prospects-avoid\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Risky NBA Draft Prospects the Hornets Should Avoid"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 NBA Draft is shaping up to be one of the most historic classes in recent memory, and the Charlotte Hornets enter it armed with two first\u2011round picks (No. 14 and No. 18). With less than 48 hours until the selections begin, the questions surrounding what the Hornets<\/a> inevitably do keep on mounting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Charlotte made meaningful progress last season, but the next step is clear: make the playoffs. Missing on these picks could keep the Hornets on the outside looking in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some players in this class carry red flags the Hornets simply can\u2019t afford to gamble on. These are the three riskiest draft prospects Charlotte should avoid as draft night approaches.<\/span><\/p>\n

3 Risky NBA Draft Prospects the Hornets Should Avoid<\/h2>\n

Karim Lopez, Forward – New Zealand<\/h3>\n

There’s a good chance Karim Lopez<\/a> is the first international prospect off the board Tuesday night. He is the \u201cjack of all trades\u201d player who can do a little bit of everything. While that may seem intriguing to some teams, taking a low-floor 3-and-D player in the lottery seems misguided.<\/span><\/p>\n

Offensively, he\u2019s great at getting downhill. While the Hornets could use more slashing ability, he\u2019s not a good 3-point shooter. He was able to score effectively in the NBL, but without an outside shot, that task gets harder for Lopez when he can\u2019t blow past defenders so easily. Lopez shot 32.6% from deep this past season.<\/span><\/p>\n

As far as defensive instincts, he\u2019s very comparable to Tidjane Salaun<\/a>. While they both have larger frames to deal with not getting bullied and absorbing contact, there are lapses of judgement off-ball. With how the Hornets are constructed right now, adding a defensive liability in Lopez is not a wise move.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lopez is a long-term project and not someone who will immediately contribute day one. Without a truly elite trait to bet on, it\u2019s hard to justify investing a valuable pick in a prospect that won\u2019t move the needle. The Hornets already have projects with Liam McNeeley<\/a> and Salaun to develop.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris Cenac Jr., Big – Houston<\/h3>\n

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

Chris Cenac Jr.<\/a> has the prototypical frame of an NBA big. He measured in at 6\u201910.25″ barefoot, 240 pounds at the NBA Draft Combine. Cenac also has a 7\u20195\u201d wingspan and a 9\u20190.5″ standing reach. The problem is that he never played as his size suggests.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Hornets are looking for players who will be able to embody physicality. A big who settles for significantly more mid\u2011range jumpers than rim attempts clearly hasn\u2019t proven he can post up or attack the basket with any real force.<\/span><\/p>\n

A player of his size should have dominated more statistically at Houston. While he has the athletic traits to improve in this area, it\u2019s a headscratcher from a prospect perspective. With a 2.6% block rate, he\u2019s also not entering the NBA with a decorated rim-protecting profile.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cenac projects as another player who won\u2019t be making an impact for an NBA team on day one. There are plenty of other bigs the Hornets should target in the 2026 NBA Draft or free agency<\/a> that don\u2019t come with so many question marks. If making the playoffs is a priority, then Cenac should be a prospect to avoid.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nate Ament, Forward – Tennessee<\/h3>\n

The allure of Nate Ament<\/a> makes sense. He\u2019s a 6\u201910\u201d wing who can create for himself, handle the ball, and get to the free-throw line, all while averaging 17 points per game in the SEC at 19 years old. The upside is probably not Kevin Durant<\/a>, but certainly a starter-level player if everything comes together at the next level.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first problem that stands is roster overlap. Taking Ament in a previous draft, like 2024 or 2025, would have made a ton of sense, as the Hornets weren\u2019t viewed as a competitive team. Fast forward to today, and they are going to have Salaun, McNeeley and Ament all battling for a rotational spot.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The second would be that he was extremely inefficient in college (sub 40% from the field). LaMelo Ball\u2019s<\/a> development<\/a> is already hinging on that trait, so adding another unproductive scorer right now shouldn\u2019t excite fans.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Hornets are on the precipice of ending the longest active playoff drought<\/a> in the NBA, so adding another raw wing to the roster doesn\u2019t help them win now if the rookie ends up playing with the Greensboro Swarm for most of the year.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Mike Watters-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2026 NBA Draft is shaping up to be one of the most historic classes in recent memory, and the Charlotte Hornets enter it armed with two first\u2011round picks (No. 14 and No. 18). With less than 48 hours until the selections begin, the questions surrounding what the Hornets inevitably do keep on mounting.\u00a0 Charlotte […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5878,"featured_media":201652,"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":[1608,7,62,556],"tags":[49942,50284,49784,50479,49238],"class_list":["post-201636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-hornets","category-nba","category-nba-draft","tag-2026-nba-draft","tag-chris-cenac-jr","tag-liam-mcneeley","tag-nate-ament","tag-tidjane-salaun"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201636","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=201636"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201653,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201636\/revisions\/201653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}