Can Charlotte Hornets End Their Four-Year Playoff Skid?

It is a very real possibility that the Charlotte Hornets could make the playoffs this season, snapping their 4-year playoff drought. The key for the Charlotte Hornets entering the 2020-21 NBA season is to continue to develop and improve their young talent, but also get a major uptick in scoring from acquiring Gordon Hayward.

The Hornets ranked dead last in scoring last season at 102.9 points per game and had the worst shooting percentage in the league at 43.4 FG%. After the breakout season Devonte’ Graham had plus the key additions of Hayward and Ball, Charlotte’s offense should be much better this season, but a lot lingers on the severity of Hayward’s injury and if this is something that will affect him long-term. 

In order for Charlotte to be a legit playoff team in the Eastern Conference, they will have to prove early on that they are here to play and able to take early leads on teams in the first-half of games. One of the biggest problems with the Hornets last season was as a result of not having any leadership and very few scoring options, they fell into massive holes early on in games that they could not shoot their way out of.

Expect to see P.J. Washington also improve on both ends of the court this year as he is coming off of a great rookie season. Washington averaged 12.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and shot 37.4% from three-point range last year.

Charlotte is one of the league’s younger teams, but with Hayward leading them, they can be a pretty effective team this season and could finally make it back to the playoffs.