The January 2026 Charlotte Hornets are going to go down in the annals of NBA history as one of the greatest teams of all time. They outscored opponents by 151 points in road games alone, which tied the best mark in the history of the league. In total, they finished with a net rating of +11.5, which was the best in the league and 3.5 points better than the next best team.
You’d expect all that success to come with some recognition, and that has indeed been the case. First and foremost, head coach Charles Lee has been named the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month.
> Phoenix Suns head coach Jordan Ott and Charlotte Hornets head coach Charles Lee have been named the NBA Western and Eastern Conference Coaches of the Month, respectively, for games played in January. [pic.twitter.com/TuPwbkCiug](https://t.co/TuPwbkCiug)
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> — NBA Communications (@NBAPR) [February 3, 2026](https://twitter.com/NBAPR/status/2018784141010141435?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
It’s a well deserved honor for Lee, who has the Hornets on an absolute heater. And we’ve gotten to see some of his personality with some postgame antics.
There had been some consternation about Lee as a coach when things weren’t going as well, but with a healthy roster, it looks like Lee knows how to get his group all pulling in the same direction.
Now, on to the players. First, the monthly honor. Kon Knueppel has been named the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month. He’s now three for three on that award so far this season.
January was actually Knueppel’s lowest scoring output of any full month this season, but that’s more a product of the health of Brandon Miller and the rest of the Hornets’ core. He still managed to average 17.8 points per game on staggering shooting splits of 49.3/41.7/88.3, and he continues to play a phenomenal floor game on both sides of the ball. It’s hard to comprehend how efficient a season Knueppel is having for a rookie wing. I think you could very easily argue that he should be rookie of the year. Cooper Flagg, who has won every Rookie of the Month for the Western Conference, has better counting stats, but that’s with a lot more opportunity. We’ll see how that shakes out as the season goes on.
And lastly, Brandon Miller was named the Eastern Conference’s Player of the Week for the last week of January.
In that week, Miller led the Hornets to a 4-0 record while averaging 26.5 points per game. We saw his game take off throughout the entire month of January, as he finished the month averaging 22.1 points with 5.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists while shooting over 43% from deep. His shot creation has been elite, and he’s delivering on the potential we always knew he had. That production earned him a nomination for Player of the Month in the Eastern Conference, but he ultimately lost out to Jaylen Brown.
We’ll always remember the January 2026 Charlotte Hornets. We’ve moved on to February now, where the Hornets are already 1-0. Perhaps we can keep this train rolling.
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