Hornets relish rare time in national spotlight: 'This will be the norm'

Roderick Boone, The Charlotte Observer on Jan 21, 2026

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In case it wasn’t already obvious this wasn’t just another night, as evidenced by the extra table at midcourt with the logo of a well-known cable television entity, the sight of Kon Knueppel chatting with broadcast talent cemented it.

The Charlotte Hornets rookie sensation was surrounded by Tim Legler and Richard Jefferson less than an hour before the opening tip, discussing hoops while a pair of cameras recorded their every move. Those are the kinds of things that typically transpire when ESPN is in the house, something that hadn’t happened in uptown in nearly half a decade.

“Yeah, we’re really excited to be able to play the ESPN game,” coach Charles Lee said. “It’s one of those moments where, you know, a lot of people talk about our story, and I think now we get to actually show our own story and our performance can do the talking for us.

“… A phenomenal opportunity for our organization, our players. They earned it, they deserve it. This will be the norm because I know that we’re just going to get better and better, and people are going to want to see us on TV more.”

If so, the Hornets can’t come out with the kind of lethargic performance that was on display in the opening quarter of their 94-87 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers at Spectrum Center.

Porous defense, rough shooting and an overall inability to match the intensity of their opponent did the Hornets in before most of the 17,619 patrons in attendance had settled into their seats. Not exactly the best of images to portray in the Hornets’ first outing on ESPN since April 25 — and first home ESPN matchup with fans in the stands since the 2018-19 season finale against Orlando.

With the way they were shredded by Cleveland, it looked like the Hornets’ body clocks were still on the Pacific and Mountain time zones. Only netting 32 points through the initial two quarters rendered the game essentially over prior to the halftime dance-off between some fraternities and sororities of historical black universities.

Minus star guard LaMelo Ball in the opening lineup, the Hornets just didn’t have it from the get-go. Sion James started at point guard while Ball came off the bench, keeping in line with the team’s goal to maximize his availability as much as possible whenever the Hornets are in the midst of games on consecutive nights.

So Ball should be good to start again during the Hornets’ road date with the Orlando Magic on Thursday night, preserved after logging 22 minutes against the Cavaliers. He didn’t shoot the ball particularly well, misfiring on all but one of his 15 shots from the field and failing to connect on any of his 10 attempts beyond the 3-point arc.

Eventually, the plan for Ball will be altered. Just not right now.

“Yeah, I’ve been really happy with it so far,” Lee said. “I think our performance staff, (VP of medical and performance) Pat Chasse kind of leading that group, has done a really good job of getting all the data, tracking how he’s responding to workload. And I think that Melo has done a really good job of being open-minded and understanding how this is going to look different on a back-to-back from a regular night and where those minutes are. And I think our team has adjusted well, too, knowing that sometimes he’s not going to start, and sometimes he’s going to start.

“But I think that the overall goal, again, is always to just maximize him and his availability, and we’ve seen a great trend right now of how his body is responding. I think we’re seeing a great trend of his actual play and as time continues to go on, we will keep evaluating it.”

Which includes possibly increasing Ball’s on-court time.

“No, I don’t think that it’s going to be a hard (stop) at this number,” Lee said. “Right now it will continue to progress and where those numbers are will depend on Melo’s response to the workload, and then also I think some of the stuff that he just does with our performance staff.”

Perhaps then the Hornets could be that much closer to boasting full strength, finally having the complete roster at their disposal. Then, maybe results like the performance they put in against the Cavaliers will decrease, providing them with more chances to have the uptown skyline lit up in teal for a national telecast.

“I think that when we’re playing these games, people always say it’s cool playing on TV and stuff like that,” said Grant Williams, who made his 2025-26 home debut. “But we have an opportunity every single night to compete at a high level, and that’s all we can focus on, ESPN game, non-ESPN game, and in these moments, this is something that we should hopefully get used to because this team’s developing, this team’s growing.

“And as the more games that we win, as the more competitive that we get, the more opportunities we’ll have like this.”