Hornets’ bench was empty against Pelicans after Oubre, Rozier injuries
Believe it or not, the Charlotte Hornets are not among the leaders in the clubhouse to land the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.
Their +600 odds at DraftKings still trail the Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs, who all have worse records and are tied at +550 to land the first pick.
The way things are trending, though, it’ll be a contest soon.
Playing Thursday against the New Orleans Pelicans, the Hornets lost for the eighth time in their last 11 games. Already dealing with several injuries, Charlotte lost Terry Rozier, Kelly Oubre and Dennis Smith during the game.
One screenshot of a completely empty bench showed just how dire the situation was.
In total, 10 players suited up for Charlotte. But once those three went down, they only had a seven-man rotation to work with. The bench was likely empty at that time because one or both of the remaining active players was at the scorer’s table to check in.
This isn’t exactly tanking, but it does help Charlotte’s cause to move into better position to land Victor Wembanyama. They won’t catch Detroit, but they only need a bottom-three record for top lottery odds and they’re about 3.5 games ahead of — or behind? — the Spurs and 4.5 games up on the Rockets.
