Why the Charlotte Hornets Offense Is Suddenly Unstoppable

Few teams in the NBA are hotter than the Charlotte Hornets right now.

The Hornets have won nine of their last 10 games and are now the 9th seed in the Eastern Conference. They were once one of the worst teams in the NBA, but now they are on the cusp of making the play-in tournament for the NBA playoffs.

The reason why they have been so successful recently is because of their offense, which is producing 117.6 points per 100 possessions, making them the 9th most efficient offense in the NBA.

The way they succeed on offense is very unique, though. Today, we’ll evaluate why their offense is performing at a high level and how they are succeeding on this end of the floor in a very different way than most teams in the league today.

Red Hot Shooting

One of the Charlotte Hornets’ best qualities is their three-point shooting. They’re one of the top long-distance shooting teams in the NBA right now, averaging 41.4 three-point attempts per game while knocking them down at a 37.3% clip. They rank in the top five in both categories, which firmly establishes them as a high-level perimeter-shooting team.

They also have multiple high-volume, high-efficiency shooters. LaMelo Ball, Kon Kneuppel, and Brandon Miller are all shooting at least 36% from three on seven attempts per game. The Hornets are the only team in the league with three players combining that level of accuracy and volume, which gives their offense incredible spacing and firepower.

I want to give a quick shout-out to Kon Kneuppel because he has been an absolute flamethrower from deep this year. He’s one of just 11 players to attempt 400 threes during the first half of the season. That’s especially impressive for a rookie, because earning the green light to take that many shots requires a level of trust from the coaching staff that few first-year players receive.

Kneuppel isn’t just piling up attempts. He’s the only player in the NBA shooting 40% from three on at least 400 attempts. That combination of volume and efficiency is unprecedented and makes him look like one of the best pure shooters in the league.

Another reason the Hornets are so difficult to contain from behind the arc is their versatility. They can hurt you on catch-and-shoot opportunities and off the dribble, and they grade out as one of the league’s best teams in BBall-Index’s catch-and-shoot 3PT shooting talent metric, as well as their pull-up 3PT shooting talent metric.

Good luck playing the Hornets, because they’re going to launch threes like the paint doesn’t exist, and most nights, there’s not much you can do to stop it.

LaMelo Ball’s Unique Impact

LaMelo Ball is one of the most fascinating players in the league. He has real flaws that keep him from being a perennial All-Star, but he also possesses a unique offensive skill set that allows him to elevate the Hornets’ offense to incredible heights.

The clearest way to see his impact is to compare how the Hornets perform with him on the floor versus when he sits. When Ball is off the floor this season, the Hornets average just 111.4 points per 100 possessions, a mark that would rank 25th in the league. When he’s on the floor, their offense jumps by a staggering 12.5 points per 100 possessions to 123.9, which would be the best offense in the NBA this year.

Typically, players who drive that kind of offensive swing are hyper-efficient scoring engines who dominate the ball. LaMelo certainly dominates the ball as he leads the Hornets in field goal attempts and assists per game. He also has the 8th-highest usage rate in the NBA.

However, he doesn’t deliver the scoring efficiency you’d expect from someone whose presence alone transforms an offense.

For example, LaMelo’s true shooting percentage sits at 53.3%, which is 8% below the league average. As we discussed earlier, he’s a very good three-point shooter, but he struggles to score inside the arc, and that drags down his overall efficiency.

The inefficiency becomes even clearer when you look at his performance in different play types. LaMelo operates primarily as a creator, spending most of his possessions in isolation or as a pick-and-roll ball handler. In both areas, he produces below-average points per possession. Interestingly, he’s far more efficient as a spot-up shooter, a role he occupies far less often.

So how does he impact the offense this much? If he’s not scoring efficiently, the value has to come from somewhere else. Unsurprisingly, it comes from his playmaking, and LaMelo is one of the best passers in the NBA.

He’s averaging 7.4 assists per game this season and records an assist on 44.3% of his teammates’ made field goals while he’s on the court. That combination of volume and responsibility is rare, and he’s one of just four players with a usage rate of at least 30% and an assist rate of at least 40% this year.

But even that doesn’t fully capture his value as a passer. What really stands out is how often he creates high-value assists, which are passes that directly lead to shots at the rim or three-point attempts. He’s generating 5.8 three-point assists per 100 possessions this season, which explains why the Hornets shoot 5.4% better from three when he’s on the floor.

LaMelo Ball may not be an elite scorer, but he controls the game as an on-ball creator because of his three-point shooting and extraordinary court vision. He has developed into an otherworldly passer, and his ability to create quality shots for others turns the Hornets’ offense into a juggernaut. It’s unusual to see a player have this level of offensive impact while scoring inefficiently, but that only highlights how powerful his playmaking truly is.

Offensive Rebounding

The last thing I want to highlight about the Hornets is their offensive rebounding, which is one of their best and most underrated traits.

The Hornets are one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the NBA. They average 12.6 offensive rebounds per 100 possessions (7th in the NBA) and grab 29.8% of their missed shots (4th in the NBA). That matters because offensive rebounding is one of the most impactful areas of the sport, and it directly influences winning.

This is especially important for the Hornets because those extra rebounds often lead to putbacks, which are highly efficient shots. The team scores 116.6 points per 100 putback possessions (7th in the NBA), which helps offset a half-court offense that ranks just 17th in points per possession. Without their ability to extend possessions and convert those second chances efficiently, their overall offensive production would look very different.

Moussa Diabate and Ryan Kalkbrenner have been the driving forces behind this dominance on the offensive glass. Diabate has an offensive rebound rate of 16.9% (2nd in the NBA), while Kalkbrenner is at 12.5% (11th in the NBA).

I’ve seen some people point out that the Hornets have benefited from the quality play of their young big men, who carry limited offensive loads and weren’t high draft picks. That’s a sharp observation, and it’s absolutely right. Both of these bigs are having strong seasons because they embrace the unglamorous responsibilities and they execute them at a high level.