Buzz City Is Back: The Charlotte Hornets Are Not Only The Hottest Team In The NBA, But Also Have Their Longest Active Winning Streak In Over 10 Years
Kent Smith. Getty Images.The following may be hard to comprehend, but it's all 100% true.
- After beating the 32-16 Spurs (w/ Wemby) earlier today, the Charlotte Hornets now own the longest active winning streak in the NBA (W6)
- With a point differential of +1.6, the Hornets have a higher differential than 8 different playoff/Play In teams from both conferences: TOR/ORL/PHI/CHI/ATL/LAL/POR/LAC
- Since January 1st, the Hornets own the #1 offense in the NBA
- Since January 1st, the Hornets own the #1 net rating in the NBA (+11.5)
- Since January 1st, the Hornets are t-1st for the most wins in the NBA (11-5)
- Since January 1st, the Hornets own the 5th best defense in the NBA
May I also remind you that in 2026, we saw the Hornets blow out the defending Champion Thunder on the road to the tune of a 124-97 ass whooping. They blew out the Lakers, beat the Nuggets (no Jokic), had one of the more insane blowouts against the Jazz (150-97), took down both the Magic and Sixers, won an incredible ROY battle against Cooper Flagg, and now they've taken down the Wemby Spurs.
Said another way, they've been kicking everyone's ass all month
From 9-20 on December 22nd to 22-28 on January 31st is impressive enough, but then you see how the Hornets are doing it and all you can do is tip your cap. Not a single soul could have predicted the Hornets would have the best offense and best net rating in the NBA for any prolonged stretch, yet here we are.
And I get it, at 22-28, the Hornets sit in 11th in the East at the moment, but it's also true that they are just 2 back in the loss column of the 9th seed. I would also tell you that the Hornets we're seeing now are NOT the Hornets from earlier in the year. Guys are back healthy, Charles Lee's system (Mazzulla Ball Lite) is starting to do it's thing, and what used to just be a fun offensive team that you tuned into while jumping around League Pass is looking more and more legit and like a team with an actual pulse the more the season goes along and the better they continue to play.
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It's been 10 years since we've seen a Hornets team win 6 in a row! I say enjoy it!
Fast forward to now and
So what has sparked this sudden run? For me, it starts with the two young franchise pillars in Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel, both of whom have been incredible this entire month. Miller with a solid 22/5/3 on 47/43% splits and Knueppel showing why he's no lower than top 2 in the ROY race with 17/6/4 on 49/41% splits in January. Shit, he's inching closer and closer to a 50/40/90 season as a rookie!
He's doing shit like this on a nightly basis
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Add in that LaMelo Ball is back from injury and is giving them some good basketball over his last 23 games (19/4/7 on 42% from deep on 9 3PA), and what you're seeing is a young team starting to play with more confidence, who plays to their identity, and when that happens, we tend to see a leap.
In the NBA, first and foremost, that means taking a leap defensively, which has always been the thing with the Hornets. Sure they were fun offensively, but you'll never make the leap if you can't find ways to consistently get stops. It's no surprise that while their offense has thrived over the last month, so has the defense. When you pair elite offense with elite defense and produce an elite net rating, you end up winning a lot of games in the NBA. It's not complicated, that's pretty much the path to any and all rebuilds.
This is also why Chuck's dig at the Hornets a few weeks ago made no sense to anyone who has been watching them so far this season
Pretty odd stance to have about the hottest team in the NBA, but no need to go over all that again.
How high will they actually climb? I don't think something as high as a 7th seed is out of the question if they are able to find a way to maintain this level of production, or even 80% of it. We'll see what happens with the Sixers who sit in 6th now that Paul George is out for 25 games, and as of now they own a 5.5 game lead over the Hornets (7 in the loss column). But can they catch the Magic (7th) or Heat (6th)? I don't see why not.
And who knows, perhaps this could finally be the year we see the Hornets actually make it out of the Play In. They probably can't take down a top seed should they make it through, but that's fine. Get the young guys playoff reps and continue to build. Maybe you get a prayer and we have a big time upset. Playoff basketball can be weird sometimes, and it's not like we haven't seen an 8 or 7 seed pull off a first round upset before. Why can't it be a team like this, who is starting to thrive at the right time barring they stay healthy?
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At the very least, if you like fun as hell basketball, do yourself a favor and start tuning into Hornets games if you haven't already. I know that's a sentence that may have sounded crazy back in October/November, but times have changed. They're a blast to watch.