5 things to know about Hornets’ offseason, including Coby White’s status, NBA draft
Instead of being somewhere in Detroit, strategizing with the coaching staff about adjustments for the next game in a playoff series with the Pistons, Jeff Peterson spent a portion of Monday morning on a dais.
The Charlotte Hornets’ president of basketball operations summarized the team’s plight in the 2025-26 season, which ended with a thud in Friday night’s play-in tournament loss to the Orlando Magic, and looked forward to the next task.
What’s ahead next is an extremely important offseason that will have a significant bearing on whether the Hornets finally end the NBA’s longest playoff drought — closing in on 11 years next spring — and join the postseason party.
“Yeah, there’s nothing like playoff basketball,” Peterson said. “Saturday and Sunday are two of my favorite days of the year, because there’s NBA games on starting at 1 p.m. and they go all night. So, just sit back and watch.
“Just the level of basketball that is played at this time of year is special. So, I’m definitely motivated. More importantly, I know the guys in the locker room are even more motivated. It hurts them and I know they want to be playing at this time of the year next year as well.”
All that puts potential pressure on Peterson to find the right addition to the Hornets’ young core, which is led by star guard LaMelo Ball, rising swingman Brandon Miller and potential rookie of the year Kon Knueppel.
Charlotte has the assets to chisel its way into the acquisition conversation over the next two months, leaving Peterson in solid position to make some upgrades and possibly tweak the Hornets’ roster makeup to increase the physicality necessary to hang with some of the NBA’s top teams.
Hornets first-round draft picks, salary cap
Armed with a pair of first-round draft picks — their own lottery selection and No. 18 from Phoenix thanks to the Jusuf Nurkic trade to Charlotte in February 2025 — and cap space, the Hornets should be somewhat active this offseason.
With a projected salary cap of $165 million for 2026-27 and the Hornets having approximately $178 million allocations for 13 players, they could be hovering somewhere around $60 million below the first luxury-tax tax apron of $209 million, giving them the capital to make something happen.
Whether that means the Hornets go big-game hunting remains to be seen.
“We can’t skip steps,” Peterson said. “Again, I’ve seen it too many times and it ends up not going the way that you think it goes, in terms of trying to speed things up. Look, we’ve made a ton of progress this season internally, and I’m excited because I know that’s going to continue to happen.
“But we’ll continue to be strategic and when the opportunity presents itself, I know we’ll be ready because of the flexibility that we have.”
Five takeaways from the Hornets
Here are five key takeaways from Peterson’s final availability of the season:
1. Coby White’s status
Among the chief tasks for the Hornets is retaining Coby White.
Acquired from Chicago the day before the trade deadline, White was a key piece off the bench for the Hornets in his 21 appearances and hit the game-tying bucket to send the Hornets’ eventual win over the Miami Heat in the opening round of the play-in tournament.
He’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer and Peterson reiterated they want White around and will use his Bird rights to re-sign him.
“Like I said when we traded for Coby, we envisioned him as somebody who’s going to be with the Hornets for a long time,” Peterson said. “He embodies what we’re about in terms of just of course on the court he’s a really, really good player. But the human being, his approach, his professionalism … I’m just happy for him what he’s been able to accomplish in this short amount of time.
“I’m excited to see what this offseason looks like. He gets a full off season with us and then going into next season as well.”
2. LaMelo Ball’s season and next steps
Peterson had plenty of praise for Ball.
Logging action in 72 games, the star guard finished No. 2 in the NBA in made 3-pointers with 272, trailing only Knueppel. He ranked ninth in the league in assists per game at 7.1, and the 2.8 turnovers per game were also his lowest since his rookie season.
“I told him this the other day too, I’m so proud of him again playing 72 games, second most that he’s played in his career. And it is because of him. He put the work in. This past summer, he took the next steps. He got comfortable continuing to take care of his body, pushed himself.
“Defensively, I loved it. His effort on that floor was more intense. It was more sustained. Offensively, there’s not much he can’t do. There’s areas that he can continue to get better in. He’s still relatively young in the league and he’s just an enormous talent. So happy, happy for him for the season that he had. I know he’s not content with what just happened (Friday), either. He wants to go to another level as well.”
3. Assessing Charles Lee
After a 19-win season in his first year on the bench, coach Charles Lee led the Hornets to a 44-win season and an appearance in the second-round of the play-in tournament.
That’s further than the Hornets have gone in the postseason since 2016.
“Charles and his entire staff, I think they did a tremendous job,” Peterson said. “I appreciate a lot about Charles, but the one thing that I would highlight is Charles is the same every day. So when we were 4-14, he’s coming in and preaching the exact same things as when we won our 43rd game.
“He has a great way about him in terms of being able to coach the guys hard and hold them accountable. And at the same time, love them and invite them over for dinner and go to coffee with them, things like that. It’s important also to realize this is his second year, so he’s developing. I think he did a great job, though, in terms of leading us to where we ultimately got to.”
4. Looking ahead to NBA Draft
Having two first-round picks in June’s draft will keep the Hornets in the mix when it comes to player movement this offseason. Given the amount of talent that should be available, those picks could turn out to be extremely valuable.
“I’m very excited about this draft,” Peterson said. “It’s if not the deepest, one of the deepest that I’ve ever been a part of. A lot of good players all over the draft, of course. But again, where we are from an asset standpoint, it’s going to allow us to be flexible. So whether that means we bring two players in, consolidate, we’ll have different options that we’ll continue to explore and look at.
“But I’m excited for whoever we bring in because I know that it’s going to be someone who is a Hornet, and about what we’re about and at some point will contribute to what we are building here.”
5. Tre Mann’s future
Tre Mann was a forgotten figure, getting dropped from the main rotation early in the season. Although he played in 53 games, many didn’t involve meaningful minutes and the 5.5 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists he posted were below his career averages.
When asked about his future by The Charlotte Observer during exit interviews on Saturday, Mann owned up to his disappointing campaign and left little doubt he wanted to return. Peterson said he spoke with Mann over the weekend.
“He certainly didn’t have the season that he wanted to,” Peterson said. “I think he’d be the first to admit that. At the same time, I do want to applaud him. I told him just, it’s not easy to come to work every day and be excited, even though you’re winning, because we’re all competitors. He wasn’t individually having the season that he wanted to have. But he was always there for his teammates. He was always cheering him on.
“He would speak up when he needed to speak up, and he continued to work. So, he’s a guy that I know feels like he’s going to have a huge summer. We talked about that. And I don’t have any doubt in my mind that he’s going to do everything in his power to be ready to go next season and contribute.”
This story was originally published April 20, 2026 at 2:21 PM.
