The Charlotte Hornets have had an up and down start to the 2024-25 NBA season. A dramatic win over the Houston Rockets on opening night has given way to losses to championship contenders in the Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves, a loss to the Atlanta Hawks, and a victory over the reeling Toronto Raptors. Media members across the NBA landscape have dropped their weekly power rankings after nearly 14 days of action, and it’s time to check the pulse of the league. Let’s dive into where the Hornets stand in this weeks batch of NBA power rankings.

Here is what Chris Herring of ESPN had to say about LaMelo Ball’s buzzy start to the season in the Queen City: “LaMelo Ball’s offense has been unstoppable, with a career-high 30.2 points per game on career-best efficiency over the first few weeks of play. The issue, aside from his high turnover rate (tied for most this season with James Harden at 5.5 per game), is he has already fouled out a league-high three times while finishing another game with five fouls.”

The league’s flagship website has the Hornets one spot ahead of the sports media giant. John Schuhmann, NBA.com’s power ranker, detailed Charlotte’s propensity to start slow in his weekly column: “The two games against the champs (Boston) were the second and third times that the Hornets have lost the first quarter by at least 12 points. They’ve scored more than a point per possession in the first quarter in only one of their six games, but have scored more than 130 points per 100 in the fourth quarter in five of the six”

The popular hoops blog is the most bullish on the Hornets 2-6 start. In their write-up, they featured NBA Sixth Man of the Year award candidate Tre Mann and his super start to 2024. “Mann is scoring nearly 20 points per night on solid efficiency, thanks to a ridiculous stepback and some tough shotmaking. He’s even dropping 3.5 dimes and playing better-than-usual defense. After Ball, he’s been the biggest part of Charlotte’s 7th-ranked offense.”

As it stands, the Hornets 2-6 record is good for 12th in the East. However, they are only 1.5 games back of the Brooklyn Nets who sit in a lofty third place standing. Only two Eastern Conference squads, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics, sport a record greater than .500, creating a jumbled mess of teams from third place down that Charlotte finds themselves squarely in the midst of. Charlotte’s next two contests, home dates with the Detroit Pistons and the Indiana Pacers, are two chances to vault up the standings while knocking their tight competition down a couple of rungs.

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