Hornets Rank Poorly Across NBA Power Rankings

AllHornets.com tracked 10 media outlets annual pre-season power rankings

The Charlotte Hornets are within 48 hours of playing their first game of the 2023-24 season. In anticipation of the new season, media analysts and outlets from across the internet release their annual "Power Rankings" ranking teams from 1 to 30. I have tracked Charlotte's rankings across various outlets and consolidated them all into one place. 

Outlet	Power Ranking	Author
ESPN	29th	NBA Insider Panel
The Ringer	29th	Kevin O'Conner
NBA.com	27th	John Schumann
The Athletic	30th	Zach Harper
ESPN Stat Projections	23rd	Kevin Pelton
CBS Sports	27th	Collin Ward-Henninger
Bleacher Report	27th	Andy Bailey
Hoopshype	27th	Yossi Gozan
USA Today	28th	Mike Sykes
Dunc'd On	26th	Nate Duncan

Charlotte's average ranking across the ten media outlets tracked is 27.3, ranking them closer to the worst team in the NBA than the play-in tournament. By now, Hornets fans have thick enough skin that it won't come as a surprise to see Charlotte ranked towards the bottom of the league. A quiet optimism remains around the Hornets organization for a bounce-back year, following a disappointing, injury-hit 27-win season in 2022-23. 

I would personally rank Charlotte 24th heading into the season ahead of San Antonio, Houston, Washington, Detroit, Orlando, and Portland. Injuries will have a large impact on influencing the final outcome. Surely it's someone else's turn other than the Hornets to be hit by the injury bug this year. The question is even if Charlotte does overcome the very low bar set for them by NBA analysts, is another borderline play-in season really a success?

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