Charlotte Hornets guard Coby White believes the team will surprise the league this year, his first full season with the team.
White, a North Carolina native, was traded to the Hornets from the Chicago Bulls at last year’s NBA trade deadline. With the Hornets trading longtime franchise player LaMelo Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves this offseason, White is expected to start the season as the team’s starting point guard.
Though the Hornets have not made the playoffs in a decade, the team did make it to the Play-In Tournament this year, and overall, they look like a team on the rise.
While the Eastern Conference is as strong as it’s been in years, White believes that Charlotte can surprise the rest of the league this season, and potentially even break their playoff drought.
Coby White Says Hornets Will Surprise the League
Speaking to The Charlotte Observer in a recent interview, White said that he believes the Hornets are a great team that is getting even better, as many of the team’s players are already in Charlotte working out ahead of training camp this fall.
“I think we’ve got a really, really good team. We’ve got a lot of really, really good players. I think we got a lot of unselfish players, so that’ll make it easy in terms of coming together. A lot of us are already here now in Charlotte working out, so that’s a major step in — what is it, August? You don’t see that a lot in the NBA, so that already shows individually how bought in each player is. So for us, it’s just about doing it together, doing it as a collective, getting better each and every day on the court, off the court. Because I think we all value getting to that brotherhood off the court as well. It’s just as important as doing stuff on the court,” White said.
“We’ve got a chance to be a really good team and surprise a lot of people, but we’ve got to put the work in. And what comes with the work is doing what we’re doing now.”
Hornets Starting Lineup for 2026-27
With White projected as the team’s starting PG, the team is expected to start sophomore shooting sensation Kon Knueppel at SG, Brandon Miller at SF, Naz Reid at PF, and Moussa Diabate at C. The team’s bench also looks stronger this season, as they picked up Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neal from the Phoenix Suns in the Miles Bridges trade.
While the Eastern Conference will be a tough cookie to crack this season, the Hornets are looking much stronger than they have in recent years, even without Ball on the roster anymore.
Should White pick up the slack and bring the Hornets his scoring and playmaking skills, he could potentially replace his former teammate and help Charlotte snap their playoff drought, which is what the franchise is hoping to do this coming season after missing out on the NBA postseason for so many years.
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