The Charlotte Hornets were active as soon as the NBA free agency started. They added a lot of veteran players to surround their young squad in hopes of making it competitive in the 2025-26 NBA season. However, one league insider thinks that the roster the front office constructed looks “weird.” With a mix of veteran and young players, there’s something unusual about how the management built the team this season.
Some of the key additions to the team are Pat Connaughton, Collin Sexton, Spencer Dinwiddie and Mason Plumlee. Connaughton and Sexton were acquired via trades, while Dinwiddie and Plumlee were both signed to one-year deals. Additionally, they re-signed Tre Mann to a three-year, $24 million contract.
Recently, James Herbert of CBS Sports discussed the roster’s appearance, pointing out that there is a “surplus of ball-handling guards.”
“Have you looked at the Hornets’ roster lately? It’s weird, man. They have 18 guys under contract, and one of their two non-guaranteed deals belongs to Moussa Diabate, who could conceivably be their starting center,” Herbert said.
“As well as being thin at center — besides Diabate, the options are veteran Mason Plumlee and No. 34 pick Ryan Kalkbrenner — the Hornets suddenly have a surplus of ballhandling guards: LaMelo Ball, the newly acquired Collin Sexton, the re-signed Tre Mann, the newly signed Spencer Dinwiddie and the returning Nick Smith Jr., plus their own summer league standout, KJ Simpson, on a two-way.”
No one is sure how the Charlotte Hornets intend to make things work for their roster. However, the roster they’ve constructed looks like it doesn’t have a clear identity as to what they want to be for the 2025-26 season.
The Charlotte Hornets are going “nowhere” if Brandon Miller isn’t an All-Star
Aside from LaMelo Ball, the Charlotte Hornets are also preparing their future to build around Brandon Miller. In his first two seasons, Miller has shown promise as a potential All-Star. Last season, he appeared in just 27 games. Nevertheless, he averaged 21 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 3.6 assists while playing in fewer games.
Amid the Hornets’ rebuild around Miller and Ball, ESPN’s Zach Lowe pointed out that the rebuild will go nowhere if the 6-foot-9 forward won’t emerge as an All-Star soon.
“This is going nowhere, I’m talking nowhere for the next five years, nowhere interesting, nowhere close to interesting, interesting you can’t even see with a telescope. This is going nowhere if Brandon Miller isn’t an All-Star,” Lowe said.
“I was super excited about him as a rookie, and this is a whole wad of nothing if he doesn’t hit.”
🎙️ @ZachLowe_NBA: "This is going nowhere if Brandon Miller isn't an All-Star, nowhere."
"I'm excited to see what he is because I was super excited about him as a rookie, and this is a whole wad of nothing if he doesn't hit, and I think he can hit." pic.twitter.com/DnZ5VhHeA3
— r/CharlotteHornets on Reddit (@HornetsReddit) July 28, 2025
Miller is trending towards becoming an All-Star. The only problem for him is his ability to stay healthy, which the Charlotte Hornets should be careful about.
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen on Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
