Preseason NBA Power Rankings: Philadelphia 76ers look like Eastern Elite

26. Charlotte Hornets

The 2016 free agent period really did a number on the Charlotte Hornets roster, and the team is still feeling it impacts three seasons later.

While the team does have one certified all-star-level talent in Kemba Walker, which should conceivably should be enough to get the Hornets into the playoffs in a week Eastern Conference, this team is in rough shape going into 2018.

With below average starters like Nicolas Batum, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (a Philly native), and Marvin Williams each making $13-plus million a year, it’s going to be hard for Walker and his boys to get above the .500 mark and make run at the playoffs.

That is, unless their new young corp starts to put it all together.

With big-name college players now on the roster like Kentucky‘s Malik Monk and Michigan State‘s Miles Bridges, Michael Jordan is attempting to add some star-studded firepower to his roster, in an attempt to define this era of Hornets basketball, but will it be enough to help to the team win now?

No, probably not, but I guess things could be a whole lot worse.

With Walker set to become a free agent after this season, the Hornets could be a bottom-five team for the foreseeable future if Kemba walks away.