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The Hornets are bad? good? Weird.

by Saurabh Rane | Data: NBA API via hoopR | 2026.04.14

Win percentage snapshot

Top of the table, plus where Charlotte sits.

The Hornets are bad?

Looking at the standings, the Hornets are fine - ranked a middling Nth in win percentage. At first glance, they're just a turquoise blip in the middle of the perrenial Miami/Toronto/Atlanta play-in sea of red.

The Hornets are bad? Good?

Sort by net rating & it gets a lot more interesting. The Hornets are a very strong Nth in overall net rating! Offense ranks a fantastic 5th and defense is a solid 12th.

Net rating usually maps to wins

Historically a good net rating meant you've been racking up the wins (R2 of 0.000). However, the Hornets have underperformed their expected wins by -0.0 - the Nth highest delta since 96-97.

Side note, the 25-26 Lakers are very much the opposite.

Close losses

When they lose, which they've done a fair bit, they don't lose by much.

Big wins

But when they win they win big.

How do they stack up

That point differential fits right in with the other top teams, but instead the Hornets found themselves admist the usual sea of red in the East play-ins

Who are they beating?

Also worth nothing the Hornets aren't just beating up on bad teams like the Suns, but they're actually the best.

Run the tape

At the end of it all, I'm not entirely sure the Hornets good or bad, but I'm very confident they're very fun. So just enjoy these Hornets highlights.