Center of attention? How Ryan Kalkbrenner is becoming talk of Hornets’ camp
Rattling off things that left an impression during Friday’s practice, Charles Lee offered up a little insight.
While explaining a few of the intricate details of a two-hour practice session at The Citadel, the Charlotte Hornets coach noted how Brandon Miller singled out a particular newcomer and delivered quite a bit of unsolicited praise.
“Brandon had highlighted one of our rookies in Ryan Kalkbrenner,” Lee said, “and just he’s noticing the daily improvement every day and the competitiveness, having to go up against Moussa Diabaté a lot of times during training camp.”
Miller isn’t the only one tossing compliments Kalkbrenner’s way, either.
“Just maturity,” Miles Bridges said when asked what he’s noticed most about the rookie big man so far. “I think maturity and he blocks every shot. So, he’s going to be great in this league. But I’m excited for him.”
Center is a position the Hornets had to revamp in the offseason, spurred by the organization’s decision to part ways with Mark Williams after three years. Although both sides said the right things publicly, a breakup between Williams and the Hornets was inevitable after the trade to the Los Angeles Lakers in February got rescinded, and Williams acknowledged as much during his media day session in Phoenix.
With Williams sent to the Suns in a draft-night deal in June, the Hornets plucked Kalkbrenner off the board in the second round following their selections of fellow rookies Kon Knueppel, Liam McNeeley and Sion James, electing to pair Kalkbrenner with Diabaté and free-agent signee Mason Plumlee in his second tour of duty with the team.
Kalkbrenner’s presence and accolades had the Hornets intrigued, aided by the 2025 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year averaging 19.4 points, nine rebounds, 2.7 blocks and 1.4 assists per game during his super senior season at Creighton.
The 7-foot-1, 260-pounder finished second in the nation in made field goals, third in blocked shots, fourth in field-goal percentage and 19th in points in 2024-25. He ranks second in Bluejays’ history in points (2,443), rebounds (1,146), blocks (399) and field-goal percentage (.658).
Quickly, he’s integrated himself with the Hornets and is thrilled to be with Charlotte.
“It’s been great,” Kalkbrenner said. “I was thinking about this as we were wrapping up practice. As you go through this draft process, you don’t know what team you’re going to end up with, how the guys are going to be. And I couldn’t be happier with the group I’m with.
“Come in every day — I don’t always know what I’m doing, but they’ve been so helpful in helping me get better and improve. And I’m feeling much more comfortable because of that. So, it’s been great.”
Kalkbrenner possesses plenty of skills and has loads of intangibles. A few characteristics in particular are extremely noticeable to Lee, though.
“His basketball IQ stands out to me, his competitiveness stands out to me and I think his willingness to keep it simple stands out to me,” Lee said. “I think that he’s in the right positions a lot of times because he’s willing to do whatever it takes to kind of help his teammates defensively and offensively. And so he’s been phenomenal — as have all the rookies.
“But he’s stood out.”
Hearing so many kind words this rapidly leaves Kalkbrenner grateful.
“Obviously, it means a lot,” he told The Observer. “Kind of like I was saying. As a rookie you don’t always know what you’re doing, so when one of those older guys who clearly knows what they are doing is giving you compliments, it’s like, ‘OK. I’m apparently doing a few things right.’
“So, that’s a big boost of confidence right there.”
Now, it’s up to Kalkbrenner to assist in proving the Hornets have enough at the position to get it done against elite teams boasting top-tier centers. In analyzing Charlotte’s guard-heavy roster, many pundits externally don’t view the Hornets’ frontline as a strength.
Internally, that’s not how they view it.
“I mean, it’s definitely not something that you want to hear,” Diabaté said. “But we’re going to see when we play.”
Plumlee, who had been excused from Monday’s media day activities for personal reasons, has continued to be absent from practice this week and hasn’t spoken about his second tour of duty with Charlotte yet. Bridges, for one, is looking forward to reuniting with Plumlee on the frontline and teaming with the Hornets’ center rotation.
“Yeah, I like our bigs,” Bridges said. “Moussa, not a lot of people know how good Moussa is rebounding the ball and on defense. You’ve got a veteran in Mase and Ryan is great. I love playing with Ryan, so I’m excited for our bigs this year.”
Exactly who has the upper hand in the rotation is apparently yet to be determined.
“They’re going to continue to have a lot more practices during the preseason to compete,” Lee said. “We have a lot of preseason games to be able to perform and I can evaluate them at that time.
“So, I look forward to one day I will have to make some tough decisions on who that starter is and what that rotation looks like. But for now, I think that they all have an opportunity to kind of just show me, show the staff, show their teammates who fits well with different groups.”
