Hornets paint scoring now has to survive without LaMelo Ball, the passer who made Charlotte’s spacing feel almost limitless.
The Hornets sent Ball to Minnesota in a four-team summer trade that brought back Naz Reid and draft capital. Soon after, they moved Miles Bridges to Phoenix for a package led by Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale. Coby White, acquired from Chicago at the February deadline, then signed a new three-year contract.
That is not routine roster churn. It is an offensive handoff.
Ball controlled pace, bent help defenders and delivered passes from angles few guards could see. Bridges supplied downhill force from the wing. Their departures remove two of Charlotte’s most reliable paths toward the restricted area.
The replacements bring real talent, but they attack the floor differently. White plays with straight-line speed. Reid drags big men away from the rim. Allen punishes reckless closeouts. None of them can simply imitate Ball.
Head coach Charles Lee now faces the question that will shape training camp: who creates the first crack in the defense, and who finishes once the lane starts closing?
The old offense left a warning beneath all those threes
Charlotte’s 2025-26 offense could scorch a defense before it settled into its shell. NBA.com’s offseason review credited the Hornets with a 118.4 offensive rating, fifth in the league and 14 points per 100 possessions better than the previous season. Charlotte finished 44-38 after climbing from 29th to fifth in offensive efficiency.
The transformation started behind the arc. Kon Knueppel made 273 threes, one more than Ball, as the teammates finished first and second in the NBA. League coverage noted that only Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson had previously occupied those two spots as teammates.
That shooting created enormous driving lanes, but it also covered a structural problem. When opponents chased Charlotte off the line, the offense often needed Ball to invent the next advantage.
NBA tracking data showed the Hornets scored 123.2 points per 100 possessions with Ball on the floor and 110.6 without him. The 12.6-point gap ranked third among players who logged at least 1,000 minutes for one team.
Those numbers explain the anxiety around Charlotte’s interior finishing. The Hornets did not lose only a 20-point scorer. They lost the player who pulled the low man one step toward the ball, froze the back-line defender and opened the final passing window.
The Play-In loss at Orlando exposed the danger. Long defenders crowded the catch, shrank the floor and turned Charlotte’s flowing offense into difficult late-clock decisions. The threes stopped falling, clean rim attempts disappeared and one bad possession bled into the next.
Now the Hornets must build interior pressure without relying on one player’s imagination.
The new arrivals must change the shape of the lane
Coby White must turn speed into structure
White owns the clearest route into the lead-guard role. His explosive first step can fracture drop coverage before the screener reaches the center’s hip. A hard rejection can send him down the empty side. One shoulder past the defender forces the entire back line to react.
There is reason for optimism. In 332 minutes with White on the floor and Ball off it, including the Play-In, Charlotte generated 120.3 points per 100 possessions. NBA.com also warned that the Hornets committed far more turnovers without Ball, which defines White’s next challenge. He must create speed without creating chaos.
Training camp should give him a clean decision tree. When the center retreats, White can snake the screen and reach his pull-up. Against a higher big, he must hit the short roll before the weak-side tag arrives. Once the corner defender pinches inward, the skip pass has to leave his hands early.
White does not need Ball’s flair. He needs command.
The best version of Hornets paint scoring starts with White forcing two defenders to guard him. Every finish, pocket pass and spray-out becomes easier after that first collision.
Naz Reid can pull the rim protector away from home
Reid gives Charlotte a different kind of interior weapon. He stands 6-foot-9 and 264 pounds, yet his shooting forces centers to leave the paint. Last season, he averaged 13.6 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists for Minnesota.
His value begins with indecision. A traditional center cannot sit at the rim while Reid pops above the break. Smaller defenders cannot absorb his weight on a deep seal. Hard closeouts invite him to put the ball down and drive through the defender’s chest.
Charlotte should resist turning him into a stationary post scorer. Reid becomes more dangerous when the offense keeps him moving. He can set a high screen, pop into space, attack a tilted closeout and finish before the help defense resets.
That sequence could unlock scoring in the lane without crowding it. White supplies the first burst. Reid stretches the center. A cutter then attacks the space behind both defenders.
Allen gives Charlotte another closeout attacker rather than a Bridges replacement. After White or Miller bends the first layer, Allen can drive a flying defender, absorb contact and keep the ball moving when the lane disappears. With Knueppel, O’Neale and Dorian Finney-Smith also spaced around the floor, Lee can surround a White-Reid action with credible shooting.
Hannes Steinbach can create force without demanding touches
Rookie big man Hannes Steinbach gives Charlotte another interior option. The Hornets selected the 6-foot-11, 248-pound center 14th after he averaged 18.5 points and a Big Ten-leading 11.8 rebounds at Washington.
Steinbach does not need a stack of post-ups to affect the paint. A wide screen can free White’s shoulder. An early seal can force the defense to concede front position. One offensive rebound can turn a stalled possession into two points at the rim.
NBA windows close quickly, and the bodies arrive harder. Steinbach’s quickest route to useful minutes will come through contact, positioning and simple reads. If he can screen, roll and catch without slowing the possession, Charlotte’s interior attack gains another functional layer.
Internal growth must carry more weight
Brandon Miller has to turn length into rim pressure
Miller remains the player with the highest offensive ceiling on the roster. He averaged a team-leading 20.2 points, made 204 threes and shot a career-best 38.3 percent from deep last season. His shot can rescue a possession from almost anywhere.
Charlotte now needs more than rescue shots.
At 6-foot-7, Miller can punish smaller guards before they receive help. He should seal them near the restricted area, cut behind top-locking defenders and attack closeouts with two decisive dribbles. A jump stop in traffic would also give him more control against rotating big men.
His health remains part of the equation. Miller underwent surgery in May to address left shoulder instability. In its May announcement, the team said it expected a full recovery but did not provide a return timetable.
Whenever he returns, Miller must embrace the physical cost of becoming Charlotte’s first option. Defenders will crowd his airspace. They will bump him off routes and force him toward help. His answer cannot always be another difficult jumper.
Charlotte’s scoring in the lane changes when Miller makes the defense feel his frame before he rises over it.
Moussa Diabaté must become more than a cleanup crew
Diabaté already creates possessions through effort. He won the 2025-26 Kia NBA Hustle Award after averaging 3.7 offensive rebounds per game and ranking among the league leaders in screen assists. His work helped Charlotte finish second in second-chance points at 17.8 per game.
The next step involves turning that activity into more deliberate offense.
One violent rim run can pin the center under the basket. From there, a clean short-roll catch can create a four-on-three advantage. Better touch on quick hooks and push shots would punish teams that leave him alone in the middle.
Spacing remains the concern. Pairing Diabaté with Reid boosts Charlotte’s rebounding and strength, but Diabaté’s defender may still camp near the lane. Lee can counter with dribble handoffs, baseline exchanges and inverted screening actions that keep the big man occupied.
Diabaté does not need a polished post game. He needs to make every ignored inch dangerous.
Training camp must connect shooting to force
Charlotte should not abandon the perimeter identity that powered its rise. That would solve one problem by creating another.
Instead, camp must connect the two threats. Empty-corner pick-and-rolls can clear a runway for White. Chicago action can send Knueppel from a pindown into a handoff while a cutter empties the lane. Reid can screen, pop and drive. Miller can force a switch, then bury a smaller defender near the rim.
The pace of those actions matters. Slow execution lets help defenders load the paint and recover toward shooters. Sharp timing forces someone to choose.
Lee also needs answers when the first set fails. White can organize the second action. Allen can attack the next closeout. Knueppel can back-cut an overplay. Reid can seal after a switch. Diabaté can crash from the weak side.
That shared responsibility gives Charlotte’s paint production a better chance to hold up over 82 games. It also keeps the Hornets from asking White to reproduce every part of Ball’s game.
The real test waits inside the three-point line
The Hornets already know they can shoot. Knueppel, Miller, Allen and Reid give Lee enough spacing to stretch almost any lineup. White has enough speed to turn that spacing into an initial advantage.
Camp will reveal whether Charlotte can finish the job.
Opponents will switch White’s screens, crowd Miller’s catches and station their biggest defender near the rim. They will test Diabaté’s decisions, Steinbach’s hands and Reid’s discipline. Every adjustment will ask the same question.
Can this team create paint touches when the first action fails?
A top-five offense gave Charlotte credibility last season. Ball’s departure removed its creative center. Bridges’ exit took away another source of force. The front office responded with depth, shooting, size and optionality, but those qualities still need an organizing idea.
Hornets paint scoring can become that idea. White attacks the first gap. Miller punishes the mismatch. Reid displaces the rim protector. Diabaté and Steinbach turn misses into collisions.
Should those roles connect, Charlotte’s offense may lose some magic without losing its bite. Otherwise, every cold shooting night will reopen the same wound.
The Hornets spent the summer changing who controls the ball. Training camp must decide who controls the paint.
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FAQs
Who will replace LaMelo Ball as the Hornets’ primary creator?
Coby White has the clearest path to the lead-guard role. Charlotte will also rely on Brandon Miller, Grayson Allen and Kon Knueppel for secondary creation.
Why does Naz Reid matter to Hornets paint scoring?
Reid can pull opposing centers away from the rim. That spacing should create wider driving lanes for White, Miller and Charlotte’s cutters.
What must Brandon Miller improve next season?
Miller must use his size to attack closeouts, seal smaller defenders and finish more possessions near the rim instead of relying on difficult jumpers.
How can Moussa Diabaté help Charlotte score inside?
Diabaté creates extra possessions through offensive rebounds and hard rim runs. Better short-roll decisions would make him an even more useful interior threat.
What is Charlotte’s biggest training-camp question?
The Hornets must determine who creates paint touches when their first action fails and opposing defenses force them away from the three-point line.
