The Charlotte Hornets opened their 2025 Summer League schedule with a win over the Utah Jazz, 111-105.

The Hornets jumped out to an early lead thanks in large part to a hot start from KJ Simpson. They gradually built up a double digit lead. They played most of the game holding a buffer of a few possessions. The Jazz had a few pushes, including one late in the game, but the Hornets were always able to manufacture a response. Tidjane Salaün dropped the dagger with a corner three off a side step that put the Hornets up five with under two minutes to go.

What Stood Out

Let’s start with the bad. Fourth overall pick Kon Knueppel had a rough game. He looked uncomfortable, even missing half his free throw attempts. It looked like he tried guiding his jumpers instead of just letting them fly, and he struggled to find his spots to be aggressive. It might be worth discussing if he’s a bust honestly. Both he and Cooper Flagg looked bad in their debuts. Something in that Duke water.

For real though, Knueppel made a few nice reads with the ball as a passer. He’ll get better once he finds his footing.

Other than that, the Hornets were pretty good top to bottom. Liam McNeeley was the big story. He finished with 22 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists. He took on more and more ball handling responsibility as the game went on, and he looked comfortable doing it. He was aggressive and physical and nothing about the performance seemed fluky. It’ll now be significantly more interesting to watch what he does the rest of the summer league. I don’t think many considered him part of the rotation early on. His debut makes it seem like he might be able to contribute sooner than we thought.

The Hornets two returning draft picks shined as well. KJ Simpson controlled the game, especially in the first half, and his off-the-dribble shooting looked much more confident. He finished strong at the basket and I was really impressed with the angles he took to get his shots off in traffic. He did well handling the ball against pressure too. He’s always going to be short, but he played really strong at the point of attack and he did a good job using his quickness to keep ball handlers in front of him in isolation.

Last year’s much maligned first round pick Tidjane Salaün took his first step towards repairing his perception, even if a single summer league game is just a tiny step. He had a few of his trademark goofy moments early in the game, but you could see him get more confident and aggressive as the game went on. He finished with 20 points and seven boards. He hit two threes deep in the corner in front of the Jazz bench and gave a little taunt to the bench both times. He attacked off the dribble and used some really long stride outs to get to the rim against pressure. His energy was palpable beyond what he contributed to the box score. It was a tremendous game for him. More please.

Ryan Kalkbrenner had his ups and downs. He really struggled guarding in space, which isn’t surprising, but he did do a good job protecting the rim. He made good decisions with the ball on offense being used more as a hub than a finisher. He did bully his way to an effortless basket when he got a post-up opportunity on a mismatch. All around not a bad debut.

Sion James was exactly the player he was at Duke. He wasn’t super noticeable outside of some layups that he got out of well designed inbounds plays. His job isn’t to stand out. He’s supposed to simply play smart basketball. I think he did that.

Jaylen Sims and Damion Baugh were both good off the bench. Sims had a kind of quiet 13 points and filled up the stat sheet. PJ Hall struggled defensively but had some nice offensive moments.

It’s nice to see the Hornets have another competent summer league roster after a few years with groups that had no one that could dribble a basketball.

The Hornets are right back at it on Saturday at 6:30 against the 76ers.