A Hornets Workout Mystery: The Missing 17

Could Charlotte have conducted unpublicized secret workouts?

It has been reported frequently this draft cycle that the Charlotte Hornets place added value on draft workouts than most other teams. That's certainly rung true so far with Charlotte working out a total 103 prospects, more than 50 more prospects than most teams. How do I know that? Because the contributors at All Hornets don't have anything better to do than go back and count prospect workouts. The Hornets do have five draft picks after all, so casting a wide net is a sensible approach.

In Mitch Kupchak's press conference he stated "We have brought in over 120 players", later on he mentioned it might not be 120 but very close to that number. When you compare that to the publicly released list of prospect workouts (Including Miller/Scoot) that is 17 players more than we know about. 

This discrepancy could mean absolutely nothing.  Kupchak could have miscounted, he may have been exaggerating or perhaps the team just didn't publicise some workouts with all undrafted players. Put on your NBA conspiracy glasses for just one minute and consider that maybe, just maybe something else is in play.

Charlotte could have brought in some players for secret 2nd workouts, the likes of Jaquez, Maxcense-Prosper and Jackson-Davis would be the most likely candidates. Or perhaps they have had some prospects workout which they didn't publicly disclose to keep their interest secret. This is a semi-regular occurrence in the NBA, the Hawks famously flew Giannis in for a workout that nobody knew about before Milwaukee ended up selecting him. Kai Jones and Jalen Johnson both had 2nd workouts with the Hornets ahead of the 2021 NBA draft which the media didn't know about at the time. 

Who are those mystery 17 players? That's a question we won't have an answer for until after the draft.

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