By October 4, 2023
Photo: Nell Redmond / AP
The wait is finally over. Charlotte Hornets basketball is officially back. Following Monday’s media day, the Hornets took the court the next morning for the first official practice of the 2023-24 season. Training camp will be held this week before the team quickly ramps up for the preseason opener on October 10 against Miami. The Hornets released a training camp roster laying out the group of 21 players that will be in Charlotte to start camp.
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The majority of the players on the roster are already locked in, but the 15th official roster spot remains open. Frank Ntilikina and Edmond Sumner are the frontrunners for a guaranteed contract, while R.J. Hunter and Nathan Mensah appear likely to be waived during the preseason. We can expect a position battle between Ntilikina and Sumner– theoretically, one of them will occupy the third guard spot on the depth chart. What makes the battle so intriguing is that they bring vastly different skill sets to the table.
Ntilikina provides value as a versatile perimeter defender while Sumner makes hay as a downhill scorer. Neither is the “backup point guard” many are looking for the Hornets to put behind LaMelo Ball, but they can operate as secondary ball handlers. Both are on partially-guaranteed contracts that can be waived with little cap penalty for Charlotte– it all boils down to which player is a better on-court fit.
Steve Clifford spoke after practice today about new @hornets guard Frank Ntilikina:
“He’s an elite defender. He has an elite skill. Frank fits our team well to me. He’s played a lot of NBA minutes.”
— Sam Perley (@sam_perley) October 3, 2023
There will be one player listed on the training camp roster that will not be present at team facilities for the time being. Kai Jones, who exhibited some unordinary behavior on social media over the offseason, will be away from the team for personal reasons, per Hornets PR. There’s no timetable for him to return to the team as of now. Clearly, some sort of breaking point was reached after Jones had called out teammates and stated that he’d beat LeBron James and prime Shaquille O’Neal in one-on-one. Hopefully, an amicable solution is reached and Jones can re-engage with the team sooner than later.
The @hornets released the following statement: pic.twitter.com/v13Y8vh4i0
— Charlotte Hornets PR (@HornetsPR) September 30, 2023
The biggest and most important Hornets storyline entering the preseason? Only one word: health. The availability of LaMelo Ball, Terry Rozier, Gordon Hayward and Cody Martin following an injury-riddled season is going to determine whether the Hornets are lottery bound once again, or headed back to the postseason. Martin will be “day-to-day” as he ramps it back up coming off knee surgery, but apart from that, the Hornets are a healthy squad.
Another player returning to the fold is of course, Miles Bridges. Bridges missed the entirety of the 2022-23 season following a June 2022 incident in which he was charged with felony domestic violence, and will serve a 10-game suspension to start the 2023-24 season after signing a qualifying offer with Charlotte in July. Clifford will have a decision to make as he organizes his lineups and rotation once Bridges is eligible to return. Does he immediately give Bridges back his starting spot from 2021-22, or slowly re-integrate him into the rotation.
LaMelo Ball and PJ Washington enter the season on new contracts that lock them in for the foreseeable future. Ball signed a five-year, $205 million max contract soon after he became eligible to do so– by far the richest extension in franchise history. To supplement Ball through his prime years, the Hornets also inked PJ Washington to a three-year, $46.5 million deal with a de-escalating AAV (Average Annual Value) that ends up at $14.1 million in its final year.
With those signings, the Hornets essentially locked in their core for the next two seasons (except for Bridges). Ball, Washington, Martin and Rozier, along with Mark Williams, Brandon Miller and Nick Richards, are all signed through the 2024-25 season and will be crucial pieces to the success of the franchise. Almost the entirety of what many expect to be the opening night rotation is locked in for the next two seasons. Continuity is a fleeting goal for many organizations across all pro sports, but the Hornets have achieved that on the court, health provided.
All of the pieces for a successful 2023-24 season are in place. Headed into last season, the Hornets were expected to build off consecutive strong regular season performances that were overshadowed by a pair of Play-In drubbings. Then, Bridges got suspended, Ball sprained his ankle in the preseason, and it all fell apart by December. Armed with a healthy roster full of players from the 43-win season two years ago, accompanied by the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 draft, Steve Clifford and company have a chance to turn some heads in the tough Eastern Conference.
Check out the full Charlotte Hornets 2023-24 season schedule.
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