The Charlotte Hornets’ 2022-23 season was essentially over before it ever began. The amount of injuries, bad luck, and losses overshadowed each and every small victory or step in the right direction throughout the campaign. Trying to find encouraging performances and positive themes for this past season is an exercise that would be legitimately difficult for any person, fan, or pundit who has the stomach to reflect on a year that yielded a 27-55 record.
Despite all of the above being true, it wouldn’t be a proper year-in-review without including some bright spots and moments worth reminiscing about. Here is a (very) short list featuring most of the best moments from Charlotte’s ’22-23 season:
Hornets win in OT over the Golden State warriors at home on October 29th – Just six games into the season Charlotte stuns the defending NBA champions (at the time) as PJ Washington scores as many points as Steph Curry.
Charlotte ties NBA record with 51 first quarter points at Milwaukee on January 7th – In front of a capacity crowd, Bucks fans were treated to the Hornets hosing their very good team in one of the best single quarter performances in NBA history. The game was never really close after the first few minutes and Charlotte cruised to a 138-109 victory.
Head Coach Steve Clifford sets franchise record for most wins all-time after a victory in Houston on January 18th – Like him or not, Steve Clifford has more wins as the coach of the Charlotte Hornets than any other man on the planet. Not many people get to say they have the distinction of being the winningest coach of a pro sports franchise. Great job coach, that’s something worth celebrating.
That’s pretty much the list. No, seriously. A few individual performances are noteworthy like PJ Washington dropping a career-high 43 points on OKC, or a franchise record or two set by LaMelo. Dennis Smith Jr.’s career revitalization arc was also a bright spot, but ultimately the pickings were slim this year in Charlotte. Unfortunately, there were many more low moments compared to high ones. To keep it brief, just consider the facts that over the course of the season Charlotte won more games on the road than they did at home and now owns the longest playoff appearance drought in the entire league…
Fortunately, on the eve of the NBA draft, it’s time to say goodbye to last year and let rampant speculation and optimism occupy the empty space inside every Hornets fan who has endured too many seasons of Charlotte being a punching bag for the rest of the NBA. Which brings us to what will ultimately be remembered about this season, it landed the Charlotte Hornets the #2 overall pick in the 2023 NBA draft.
Charlotte has some history with the #2 pick in the draft, and it isn’t exactly the kind of history worth revisiting. However, with this year’s pool of prospects it seems almost guaranteed that the Hornets will have more success on the court this upcoming season. Very rarely does Charlotte find itself in a place where everything is looking up, yet that’s exactly where they find themselves…and it’s not just because of some luck in the lottery.
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