After The Timeout · NBA 2026-27 guide

Eastern Conference · tip-off October 20

Charlotte Hornets

Our win estimate next to the market's, the last three seasons, who came and went, and the rotation we expect.

Our estimate

42 wins

Median of 20,000 simulated seasons. Middle 80%: 37 to 48 wins.

The market

37.7 wins

Where the Kalshi yes price for "wins or more" crosses 50%.

Last season

44-38

2025-26 · net rating +4.9 (8th in the NBA)

Our estimate is 5.1 wins above the market.

Treat the gap as a flag, not a verdict. In backtests on 2024-25 and 2025-26 (60 team-seasons) this kind of estimate missed a team's win total by 8.3 wins on average. Last season's wins pulled toward 41 missed by 9.0. Ratings built from games alone said 49 wins for this team.

Two ways to count wins

Our range against the market

The blue bar is the middle 80% of our simulated seasons. The orange line is the market's win total.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 37.7 market wins in an 82-game season
Our median 42, middle 80%: 37 to 48 Market 37.7

Where we think they finish in the East

Top 6: 32% Play-in, 7th to 10th: 63% Outside the top 10: 5.5%
Market prices by strikeKalshi, captured Oct 19, 4:38 pm UTC
Wins or moreBidAskMidOur odds
2094¢ 100¢ 97¢ 100%
2591¢ 95¢ 93¢ 100%
3079¢ 84¢ 82¢ 100%
3559¢ 64¢ 62¢ 96%
4039¢ 41¢ 40¢ 74%
4521¢ 25¢ 23¢ 31%
5010¢ 15¢ 13¢ 5%
552¢ 7¢ 5¢ 0%
600¢ 6¢ n/a 0%
650¢ 6¢ n/a 0%

A strike with no bid is treated as unpriced. The market win total is a straight line between the two strikes that straddle 50%.

What the scoreboard said

The last three regular seasons

Ratings are points per 100 possessions. Possessions are estimated from box scores, so treat them as close, not exact. Ranks are out of 30.

2025-26 · 44-38 (16th in wins)

Points per game
116.013th
Allowed per game
111.27th
Offensive rating
116.67th
Defensive rating
111.710th
Net rating
+4.98th

2024-25 · 19-63 (28th in wins)

Points per game
105.130th
Allowed per game
114.216th
Offensive rating
105.129th
Defensive rating
114.223rd
Net rating
-9.128th

2023-24 · 21-61 (27th in wins)

Points per game
106.628th
Allowed per game
116.822nd
Offensive rating
107.827th
Defensive rating
118.130th
Net rating
-10.430th

Our preseason ratings

Offense
+0.1413th
Defense
-3.114th
Net, games only
+3.245th
Roster value
+0.84

Offense, defense and net are points per game against an average team, fitted on every completed game before tip-off (defense: lower is better). Roster value is the on-court net per 48 minutes of the players on the roster list, weighted by minutes.

Who came and who left

Offseason moves

Built from the DraftKings roster list and 2025-26 box scores. Players who left had at least 500 regular-season minutes here last season.

In (7)

  • Royce O'Nealefrom PHX
    28.4 min, 9.8 pts a game
  • Naz Reidfrom MIN
    26.1 min, 13.6 pts a game
  • Dennis Schroderfrom CLE
    24.2 min, 10.8 pts a game
  • Grayson Allenfrom PHX
    28.8 min, 16.5 pts a game
3 moredepth and rookies
  • Christian AndersonRookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Hannes SteinbachRookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Kylan BoswellRookie / newNo NBA box score on file

Out (5)

  • Miles Bridgesnow with PHX
    31.0 min, 17.1 pts a game
  • LaMelo Ballnow with MIN
    28.0 min, 20.1 pts a game
  • Collin Sextonnow with LAL
    22.3 min, 14.2 pts a game
  • Josh Greennow with UTAH
    15.7 min, 4.3 pts a game
  • Tre Mannnow with WSH
    12.6 min, 5.5 pts a game

The rotation we expect

Top eight by projected minutes

Minutes come from our DFS minutes projection and are not scaled to a 240-minute game. Open a player for three seasons of per-game lines and shooting.

Brandon Miller F · age 23 · 30.8 projected min 2025-26: 65 g, 20.2 pts, 4.9 reb, 3.3 ast

2025-26 · CHA

65games
30.3min
20.2pts
4.9reb
FG43.5%454/1044
3P38.3%204/533
FT89.2%199/223

3.3 assists a game

2024-25 · CHA

27games
34.3min
21.0pts
4.9reb
FG40.3%198/491
3P35.5%104/293
FT86.1%68/79

3.6 assists a game

2023-24 · CHA

74games
32.2min
17.3pts
4.3reb
FG44.0%476/1083
3P37.3%184/493
FT82.7%143/173

2.4 assists a game

Kon Knueppel F · age 21 · 30.7 projected min 2025-26: 81 g, 18.5 pts, 5.3 reb, 3.4 ast

2025-26 · CHA

81games
31.5min
18.5pts
5.3reb
FG47.5%515/1084
3P42.5%273/642
FT86.3%195/226

3.4 assists a game

2024-25

No regular-season games on file.

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Moussa Diabate F · age 24 · 26.9 projected min 2025-26: 73 g, 7.9 pts, 8.7 reb, 1.9 ast

2025-26 · CHA

73games
26.0min
7.9pts
8.7reb
FG63.1%229/363
3P50.0%1/2
FT65.9%116/176

1.9 assists a game

2024-25 · CHA

70games
17.7min
5.8pts
6.3reb
FG59.6%167/280
3P0.0%0/6
FT59.5%69/116

0.8 assists a game

2023-24 · LAC

11games
6.0min
2.6pts
2.2reb
FG52.6%10/19
3Pn/a0/0
FT64.3%9/14

0.4 assists a game

Naz Reid New here C · age 27 · 25.8 projected min 2025-26: 77 g, 13.6 pts, 6.2 reb, 2.2 ast

2025-26 · MIN

77games
26.1min
13.6pts
6.2reb
FG45.6%397/871
3P36.2%162/448
FT73.2%90/123

2.2 assists a game

2024-25 · MIN

80games
27.6min
14.2pts
6.0reb
FG46.2%426/923
3P37.9%175/462
FT77.6%111/143

2.3 assists a game

2023-24 · MIN

81games
24.3min
13.5pts
5.2reb
FG47.7%406/851
3P41.4%169/408
FT73.6%109/148

1.3 assists a game

Grayson Allen New here G · age 31 · 23.4 projected min 2025-26: 51 g, 16.5 pts, 3.0 reb, 3.8 ast

2025-26 · PHX

51games
28.8min
16.5pts
3.0reb
FG40.3%269/667
3P34.9%159/455
FT85.7%144/168

3.8 assists a game

2024-25 · PHX

64games
24.1min
10.6pts
3.0reb
FG44.8%219/489
3P42.6%149/350
FT81.6%93/114

2.1 assists a game

2023-24 · PHX

75games
33.5min
13.5pts
3.9reb
FG49.9%340/682
3P46.1%205/445
FT87.8%129/147

3.0 assists a game

Royce O'Neale New here F · age 33 · 23.3 projected min 2025-26: 78 g, 9.8 pts, 4.8 reb, 2.7 ast

2025-26 · PHX

78games
28.4min
9.8pts
4.8reb
FG42.1%263/625
3P40.8%212/520
FT71.1%27/38

2.7 assists a game

2024-25 · PHX

75games
24.6min
9.1pts
4.7reb
FG42.3%241/570
3P40.6%179/441
FT73.1%19/26

2.2 assists a game

2023-24 · BKN/PHX

79games
24.7min
7.7pts
4.8reb
FG39.7%214/539
3P37.0%156/422
FT68.6%24/35

2.8 assists a game

Grant Williams F · age 27 · 20.9 projected min 2025-26: 36 g, 7.0 pts, 3.9 reb, 1.6 ast

2025-26 · CHA

36games
19.8min
7.0pts
3.9reb
FG42.6%78/183
3P38.8%52/134
FT81.5%44/54

1.6 assists a game

2024-25 · CHA

16games
29.9min
10.4pts
5.1reb
FG43.9%54/123
3P36.5%27/74
FT83.8%31/37

2.3 assists a game

2023-24 · CHA/DAL

76games
28.0min
10.3pts
4.2reb
FG45.6%276/605
3P37.5%126/336
FT75.7%106/140

2.3 assists a game

Dennis Schroder New here G · age 33 · 19.8 projected min 2025-26: 70 g, 10.8 pts, 2.7 reb, 4.9 ast

2025-26 · CLE/SAC

70games
24.2min
10.8pts
2.7reb
FG40.5%255/629
3P32.9%75/228
FT83.4%171/205

4.9 assists a game

2024-25 · BKN/DET/GS

75games
28.1min
13.1pts
2.6reb
FG40.6%336/827
3P34.2%127/371
FT83.8%181/216

5.4 assists a game

2023-24 · BKN/TOR

80games
31.1min
14.0pts
3.0reb
FG43.5%403/927
3P37.5%138/368
FT83.6%178/213

6.1 assists a game

How to read this

Method and limits

How our estimate is built
  • Our estimate starts from the roster. Each player's on-court net points per 48 minutes (from his most recent full season, pulled toward zero when the sample is small) is averaged by minutes across the roster list, then turned into wins at about 2.9 wins per point of net.
  • That win total is then pushed through the real 2026-27 schedule 20,000 times, using a home win probability for every game, to get the range and the playoff and play-in odds.
  • Ratings built from games alone (6,153 games before October 20) are kept as a comparison. They fade old games over the offseason, which pulls every team toward average.
  • The market number is the wins where Kalshi's "wins or more" price crosses 50%, read off a straight line between strikes five wins apart.
What the estimate does not know
  • Possessions are an estimate from box totals, not tracked possessions.
  • The season simulation uses each game's win probability from the ratings and nothing else: no rating uncertainty, injuries, trades after the cutoff or in-season rating updates, so the 10th-90th percentile band is narrower than a real season's spread.
  • The 2026-27 schedule file lists 1200 games (80 per team on average) rather than 1230. Each team's missing games ([2] per team) are played against an average opponent at a neutral site with no rest terms.
  • Projection method: (d) roster values. In the walk-forward study its hold-out MAE was 8.3 wins (n = 60 team-seasons) against 9.0 for last season's wins regressed toward 41. Typical error is still about 8 wins per team, so treat every number as a wide estimate.
  • Roster values use each player's box-score plus-minus, which is not adjusted for teammates. Players with no box-score history count as average at 10 minutes a game.
  • Ties in the seeding are broken at random; head-to-head and division rules are not applied.
  • Every team has a usable market median.
  • Market median uses the midpoint of the yes bid and ask for each strike and a straight line between the two strikes (5 wins apart) that straddle 0.5; a strike with no bid is treated as unpriced.
  • Rosters are the DraftKings Best Ball player list for draft group 150564, kept only where the player is on his team's current ESPN roster (ESPN team rosters, 2026-10-19): released and departed players are out. Players DraftKings lists as Out are not in the engine's pool, so they have no projected minutes and are not in the top 8; each team's moves block names them.
  • Projected minutes are the engine's per-player estimates from box scores through 2026-04-12; they are not scaled to the team's 240 minutes and do not model new teammates.
  • Box scores start in 2021-22; a player with no box score on file is marked as a rookie or new, which can include veterans returning from abroad. Ages come from the ESPN player directory (2025-26 file) and are missing for players it does not list.
  • This team has 2 games the schedule file does not list yet; they are treated as games against an average opponent.

Data built Oct 19, 2026. Estimates are ours and can be wrong.