It’s the NBA doldrums. Just about nothing happens between the end of summer league and the start of camps at the tail end of September. While nothing is happening there, the NFL starts gearing up for its season, baseball gets ready for the playoff push, and people are outside enjoying the ends of their summer. No one is thinking about basketball. But there are a few little things that we can talk about if you so desire.
The Hornets are losing the Summer League Champion coach
Chris Jent joined the Hornets as part of head coach Charles Lee’s first staff last summer. He led the summer Hornets to a summer league champion. Clearly that caught the eye of the New York Knicks, who are hiring him away to be the associate head coach on new boss Mike Brown’s staff. It’s a bit of a homecoming for Jent, who played 10 minutes and scored six point for the Knicks back in the 1996-97 season.
It’s sad to see Jent go after being such a big part of a seminal moment in Hornets history. We’ll always have that summer league title.
Grant williams still has a ways to go in his recovery
Williams had a conversation with Rod Boone of the Charlotte Observer last week. He spoke about his teammates and the other usual interview topics. The point of interest for most people is probably going to be an update on his injury after he tore his ACL last December. According to Williams, he’s still not taking contact, but he is doing on court work. With that in mind, it seems unlikely that Williams will be ready for the early parts of the season. There’s no official timeline for his return, but it’s probably more likely we see his return closer to the start of 2026 calendar year than the start of the NBA season.
The Hornets are not part of the NBA’s featured Calendar days
The NBA’s opening night and Christmas Day schedules were reported, and to the surprise of no one, the Hornets weren’t included. The Warriors and Lakers play what feels like their annual opening night meeting. The Rockets and Thunder are the other opening night match-up, and all four of those teams will be playing on Christmas Day as well. It’s a Western Conference heavy schedule, because that’s where all the good teams are. The Hornets will have to wait for schedule release day to see if they get a few primetime games that people don’t care about in the middle of the season.
Kemba walker played a key part in Kon Knueppel’s pre-draft workout
The Hornets released an episode of their Reel Access series that takes us behind the scenes of their pre-draft workout with Kon Knueppel up to draft night. There are some clips from Knueppel’s workout, and there’s a very familiar opponent for part of it. Kemba Walker suited up to go one on one against Knueppel, and it’s heartwarming to know that’s the kind of involvement Kemba still has within the organization as part of the coaching staff.
And speaking of old friends, on draft night, general manager Jeff Peterson decided to make former head coach Steve Clifford call the pick in to the league. Perhaps this is some sort of symbolism about transitioning from an old era to a new one or something like that.