28. Charlotte Hornets
It's been pretty tough sledding for the Charlotte Hornets for the majority of this season. Most recently, the Hornets have lost 11 of their last 13 games heading into the NBA All-Star break. While they may have some talented young players on their roster, this is a team that will have some pretty big decisions to make heading into the offseason. There continue to be questions about whether LaMelo Ball is a winning player and whether Brandon Miller can continue to develop into a foundational piece.
After this season, I'm still not sure if any of those questions will have been answered. If it's any consolation, the Hornets can feel good about the fact that they're probably going to get a top draft pick to help them sort out their future. Projected to select No. 3 overall, that could be a huge boost to this team's overall build. Assuming they don't take a huge tumble in the lottery, the Hornets could emerge as quite the intriguing team in the Eastern Conference heading into next season. Of course, that's if everything this offseason falls into place.
27. Utah Jazz
I've been pretty vocal about my concerns for the Utah Jazz heading into the future. I'm not sure how anyone can say this team has improved all that much in the past couple of seasons and that can't be a great sign for Lauri Markkanen, who just signed a huge contract extension with the team. I don't want to be that guy, but at some point, the Jazz may have to get to a point where they're at least open to the possibility of trading their All-Star caliber forward. If they know they're not close to winning, it would make zero sense to keep that type of asset on their roster.
That's why I believe this offseason will prove to be huge for the team. Maybe the perception around the Jazz changes if they are able to land a franchise-changing prospect with their projected top-5 pick. Maybe they get lucky and end up winning the lottery and are awarded Cooper Flagg? But you see why I'm down on the Jazz as a whole? There's a lot of hope with the way this team has been building over the last couple of years.