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The Charlotte Hornets have not been to the NBA Playoffs in nearly a decade, but at least on Sunday night, they won an NBA Summer League title. It's not much of an achievement for the franchise, but it's something clearly enough to warrant players to get championship rings.'
Here's a look for one of those shiny rings given to the players after Charlotte defeated the Sacramento Kings in the title game at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas to the tune of an 83-78 score.
Here’s a close look at the NBA Summer League Championship ring 🏆💍 pic.twitter.com/grOKoNGqLy
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) July 21, 2025
Charlotte leaned on a balanced attack to take care of business against the Kings, with 2025 NBA draft No. 4 pick Kon Knueppel lighting it up with 21 points on an 8-for-21 shooting from the floor on his way to winning the NBA Summer League championship game Most Valuable Player award. Knueppel's fellow rookie and Hornets' second-rounder Ryan Kalkbrenner had a near-double-double of 15 points and nine rebounds with a steal and a block while KJ Simpson gathered 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
As a team, the Hornets shot just 39.7 percent from the field and also committed 15 turnovers. However, Sacramento failed to capitalize more on those errors by Charlotte and didn't shoot efficiently either, going 36.5 percent from the floor. The Kings were led by Isaac Jones, who had 24 points and 11 rebounds.
Although winning the NBA Summer League isn't such a prestigious accomplishment and the competition itself is more about player evaluation than actually topping the field, the Hornets can still feel good about what they just achieved in Sin City. For a franchise that doesn't have much to write home about over the last several years, a Summer League title isn't too shabby of a feat.
Seeing Knueppel and Kalkbrenner flourish in the Summer League also adds to the hope that the Hornets will be able to turn things around in the near future, perhaps as soon as the 2025-26 campaign.
The duo of LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller is brimming with potential and adding Knueppel and Kalkbrenner to the mix could further brighten the future of the Hornets franchise, which last made the NBA Playoffs in 2016. The Hornets have also just averaged 22.3 wins over the last three seasons.
