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Teams like the Charlotte Hornets at the bottom of the NBA standings often have a slim chance of winning the NBA Finals in the near future. If done correctly, though, a rebuild can be used to elevate a team from the basement of the league to the top of the mountain.
Five seasons ago, the Oklahoma City Thunder won just 22 games. After going through a rebuild and being at the bottom for a couple of years, they are now a threat to go on a dynastic run after they earned their first title on Sunday night with a Game 7 victory over the Indiana Pacers.
While they endured a rough 2024-25 campaign, Charlotte stands out as a team that could follow OKC's blueprint in an effort to make a similar turnaround to the one they just completed by winning the 2025 NBA Finals. Let's take a closer look at why the Thunder's championship victory should serve as inspiration for the Hornets as the offseason officially gets underway.
It all starts with the draft
The league is as open as it's been in almost a decade or so, meaning any team could conceivably go on a title run next year. With a new salary cap being ushered in, teams have turned to the NBA draft to stockpile star-caliber players, rather than waiting for a big fish in free agency. Charlotte has cashed in on recent draft picks like LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller, but they haven't been able to stay healthy over the years. This past season, the Hornets two young stars played in just 74 combined games.
With the 2025 NBA Draft getting underway on Wednesday, Charlotte has a shot to add more pieces to their young core as they look to continue to fill out their roster. The Thunder managed to snag Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, and Cason Wallace in the 2022 and 2023 drafts, immediately giving them a young crop of players to put around their superstar guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. And while SGA is a great individual talent, the ancillary pieces are more important than the star themselves.
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Perfect acquisitions via free agency & trades are just as important
The Thunder drafted well, but the trades and signings they made were just as important. The trade with the Los Angeles Clippers for Gilgeous-Alexander is the pinnacle of any move they have made in the last few years, and picking up Alex Caruso from the Chicago Bulls helped the 2024-25 team etch their name in the record books. It cost a potential star in Josh Giddey, but Caruso's defensive intangibles and leadership were a perfect fit for OKC. Toss in the free agency signing of Isaiah Hartenstein, and this team maximized all the different avenues you can use to acquire players.
When it comes to following in the Thunder's footsteps, the Hornets have their work cut out of them. Impact free agents haven't exactly flocked to Charlotte over the years, so in order to attract them, a winning culture has to be built. That requires hitting on productive players in the draft and making trades that show they are trying to win now. General manager Jeff Peterson has made moves to stockpile some second-round picks that could be used in future deals, but only time will tell what his plan is.
Again, other young teams have started to break out of their supposed limits to become playoff contenders. The Indiana Pacers getting to the NBA Finals was a surprise to some, but they followed a similar blueprint to the one Oklahoma City put together. The Minnesota Timberwolves have made it to back-to-back Western Conference Finals after years of irrelevancy.
Charlotte is a few moves away from finding themselves in a similar situation; they just can't skip any steps. In a league that encourages building oven-baked teams rather than microwaveable super squads, parity is at an all-time high. Armed with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2025 draft, the Hornets have a chance to continue to add to their core and potentially build their team in a similar manner as the Thunder.
