Fantasy Basketball Breakouts, Busts, and Locks - Charlotte Hornets (2023-24)

Welcome to yet another edition of RotoBaller's Fantasy Basketball Breakouts, Busts, and Locks for the 2023-24 season. Today we will be looking at the Charlotte Hornets; a team that is looking to get back to the play-in tournament after a disappointing season.

LaMelo Ball missed most of the year, while Miles Bridges spent the season in free agency due to his domestic violence case. With Bridges' off-court troubles, Michael Jordan selling the team, and Kai Jones' social media "adventures", there has been a bad stigma around this team, but some players still have fantasy value.

In this article, we will highlight the breakout, bust, and lock picks for the 2023-2024 Hornets.

Charlotte Hornets Fantasy Breakout - Mark Williams

Mason Plumlee just couldn't fit in with the Hornets last season. He averaged a -4.0 Plus/Minus Net Per 100 Possessions compared to +1.1 when he was traded to the Clippers. Plumlee has shown that he is still a good player on the Clippers, but he wasn't the ideal player for the Hornets' timeline.

The growth of Mark Williams last season showed that, as he went off once the Hornets traded Plumlee and made Williams the starter. In 25 games before the trade, Williams averaged just 14 minutes a night but in the 18 games since, he averaged 11.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks a night.

Hornets center Mark Williams said he has put on about 15 pounds (and a bunch of muscle) to go from 245 to 260 pounds. Said he has spent a lot of time in the weight room. pic.twitter.com/NpVtdLqkF5

— Steve Reed (@SteveReedAP) October 2, 2023

He also shot 62.9% from the field. What makes his stats even better is that he only played with LaMelo Ball for eight of those games. One of those eight games was a dominant 18-point, 20-rebound performance against Miami.

He made the final four points of the game to give the Hornets an unlikely win against the eventual Eastern champions while being guarded by All-Defensive second-team member Bam Adebayo. Williams' rim-protecting abilities allow the Hornets to focus on shutting down perimeter threes, which is something they couldn't do when they were starting Plumlee as they often packed the paint when he was there.

He is also not a serial fouler, unlike other young bigs. He averaged just 3.5 fouls per 36 minutes during his time as the starter, which is a remarkably low rate, not just among young big men, but among all bigs in the league. Among notable rim protectors, only the best of the best like Giannis, Joel Embiid, Rudy Gobert, and Anthony Davis averaged 3.5 or fewer fouls per 36. With Kai Jones' future with the Hornets in jeopardy, Williams is set to get a lot of minutes, and he can rack up stats on both sides of the floor.

Charlotte Hornets Fantasy Bust - Gordon Hayward

Last season the Hornets fell apart whenever Gordon Hayward wasn't playing, as evidenced by his +4.4 Plus/Minus Net Per 100 Possessions average, but his raw stats have been declining for two years now. And it's not like you can blame the guy, he came back from one of the most infamous and gruesome injuries in NBA history.

He should definitely be proud of himself for making a good comeback, but his days as a high-level player are slowly coming to an end. He had one of his best seasons in his first year in Charlotte, but his stats have gone down quite a bit since then. Hayward averaged 15.9 points per game with a 57% (1.4% less than 2020-21) true shooting percentage in 2021-22, and those stats dipped even lower last season.

Gordon Hayward said it is nice to focus on his game this summer and not have to worry about rehabbing from an injury. pic.twitter.com/vUVcVNSCGH

— Steve Reed (@SteveReedAP) October 2, 2023

Last season he averaged 14.7 points per game with a 56.3% true shooting percentage, and his dip in stats is even more evident that he is declining as a player, especially considering that he played pretty much the same number of minutes as he did last year than in 2021-22 and the absence of Miles Bridges.

His 32.5% three-point percentage was the second-lowest mark of his career. To be fair to Hayward, he started the season off pretty hot but his stats were destroyed by a terrible 25-game stretch in the middle of the season where he had a record 7-18 and averaged 11.6 points on 42.2% shooting from the field and 27.5% from deep.

However, he ended the season just like how he started it and got his shooting stroke back, so that might be enough to convince some fantasy managers, but not me. His body is clearly in decline entering his age-33 season and now that Brandon Miller is looking to steal his starting spot, his stats could get even worse.

Charlotte Hornets Fantasy Lock - LaMelo Ball

We end with an absolute no-brainer. If you have a player from the Hornets in your fantasy team, chances are that it's LaMelo Ball. Fantasy managers have gotten hesitant due to Ball's injury issues last year, but he is not an injury-prone player and is nowhere near Zion's level as people are making it out to be.

His injuries were freak accidents, not long deep-rooted issues with his body like Zion and Derrick Rose. Ball is now fully healed according to Hornets GM Mitch Kupchak and is looking to lead the Hornets to their first playoff appearance since they were cooked by Dwyane Wade (remember the purple shirt guy?) in the 2016 postseason.

LaMelo Ball last season (36 games):

23.3 PPG
6.4 RPG
8.4 APG
4.0 3PM (!!)

Only Dame, Klay and Steph hit more 3s per game. pic.twitter.com/cELCKaRouT

— StatMuse (@statmuse) October 5, 2023

Ball dishes out assists at an extremely high rate. He finished eighth in assist percentage and ninth in assists per game in 2021-22, but what gives him the advantage over other young, pass-first guards like Tyrese Haliburton is his rebounding ability. Ball has averaged 6.6 rebounds per game over the past two seasons.

Among players who have played primarily at PG over the last two seasons, only Luka Doncic and Russell Westbrook have averaged more boards per game in that period. LaMelo now has more passing options than ever with Bridges' return, Mark Williams' growth, and the addition of Brandon Miller, and has the upside of averaging 20+ PPG, 10+ APG, and 7+ RPG. Don't get overly cautious with his injury history, as he has the upside to lead your squad to big things.

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