Starting Lineups Announced for Charlotte Hornets vs Miami Heat

The Charlotte Hornets (34-34) are finally ready to kick off their seven-game home stand, and their last game of the regular season against their division foes, the Miami Heat (38-30).

Both teams recently submitted their starting lineups, and there's a notable change for the visitors from South Florida.

The Hornets starting five:

G LaMelo Ball - Charlotte needs LaMelo Ball to be the best version of a distributor he can be tonight. Scoring always helps from Ball... Charlotte can't afford to lose possessions tonight, as evidenced by these two teams' last game against each other.

G Kon Knueppel - Kon has quietly had a slower couple of weeks compared to his first-half-of-the-season heater. He continues to change the game in multiple ways, which is crucial for the Hornets when he's not hitting from deep. i.e., drawing a charge for the win @ Portland on Tuesday night.

G Brandon Miller - Brandon struggled Sunday against the Spurs in San Antonio, to say the least. Miller tends to bounce back strong throughout the ebbs and flows of 2025-2026, and Charlotte could use a Miller offensive explosion tonight.

F Miles Bridges - Bridges has had a lot of good moments since the New Year, new Hornets came around. The volume dropped, and Charlotte saw the fruits of that. Bridges needs to be doing the dirty work tonight, especially with Miami missing a few key players.

C Moussa Diabaté - The moose has to be excited to have another opportunity against these division foes... he didn't play to the best of his capability at all in the two's last matchup. With a key missing piece for the Heat, this could be a big night for Charlotte's front-court anchor.

The Heat starting five:

G Davion Mitchell - Also known as the 'Straight Jacket' league-wide for his defensive prowess, it'll be fun to see how Mitchell matches up with LaMelo, given their size difference. Not often does Mitchell find himself seeing point guards as large as the Hornets' No. 1 is.

G Tyler Herro - Herro was nails last time out against the Hornets. As a fan of the NBA, in general? It was one of the better all-around performances I've ever seen from Herro. He was operating Miami's offense like a well-oiled machine. The Hornets' adjustments to this will be key to the game if they want to avoid a season sweep.

G Pelle Larson - Larson could be the X-Factor for Miami tonight, simply by way of his three-point shooting. The Hornets can't afford to lose track of a new Heat starter tonight.

F Norman Powell - The Hornets killer himself; it's a nightmare that the Hornets have to see Powell four times a year now, as compared to three. With a few of Miami's key cogs missing offensively, expect Powell's volume to go up big time tonight for the Heat.

C Kel'el Ware - The most notable change for the Heat, for certain. That's no reason to discount Ware, though. He's been playing his best basketball of the season here recently and, like Adebayo, has the motor to match up fairly well with Moussa. The moose is constantly on the move offensively and defensively, and my eyes will be on the Heat C to see if his conditioning has the legs (no pun intended) to keep up.

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