What: Charlotte Hornets vs Oklahoma City Thunder

When: 5:00pm Eastern

Where: North Charleston Coliseum, Charleston, SC

How to watch: Hornets.com, the Hornets App

Injuries:
Hornets: Josh Green-out (shoulder), Grant Williams-out (knee)

Thunder: Jalen Williams-out (wrist), Kenrich Williams-out (knee)

We made it! Charlotte Hornets basketball is back, even if it is only preseason for right now. We’ll get our first look at Kon Knueppel and the rest of the rookie, the bulkier and more tattooed LaMelo Ball, and the returns of Brandon Miller and Tre Mann. And we get all of that against the defending champion Thunder. That said, they’ll be without Jalen Williams at least, and it’s not uncommon for well established teams to sit their more important players in the first game or two of the preseason as they ramp up.

As for the Hornets, they seem intent on building a culture and getting players on the floor. I’d expect to see the regular rotation players play around 20 minutes apiece, mostly through the first three quarters, while the deeper parts of the bench finish the game out. That’s generally the setup for most preseason games.

Beyond that, I don’t really know what else to preview for preseason game one. We need to see some action to know what kinds of things we’d like to see improved before the regular season starts. The one thing I’m curious about is what Charles Lee tweaked to make the offense faster and more spaced out. There have been a couple clips from camp where the ball movement looks crisp. We’ll see how that translates to a more competitive atmosphere.

I don’t think this game is on TV, but anybody with the Internet can watch it either via the Hornets app or Hornets.com. That’s a pretty cool thing for the team to do. And you can flip over here during or immediately after the game to talk about what you’ve watched.