The Washington Wizards lost to the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday evening, 139-113 in their home opener of the 2025-26 NBA season.
I felt pretty good about the first half of the game. Washington led 62-51, was winning the field goal percentage battle by a fair amount, and they were also draining threes at a good rate (40 percent, or 8-of-20).
But of course, there is a second half. And the third quarter was ugly here. Kon Knueppel and Liam McNeely led Charlotte to a 44-26 rout in the third quarter, also
giving the Hornets a 95-88 lead. It’s natural that teams go on runs in basketball games, but the third quarter also was one where Washington allowed Charlotte to score 11 points off of turnovers, while the Wizards? They didn’t score a single point off a turnover. Then the wheels fell off in the fourth quarter.
CJ McCollum scored 24 points to lead Washington and Alex Sarr added 21 more. Tre Johnson added 18 points off the bench.
LaMelo Ball scored 38 points, dished 13 assists and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the Hornets. Four of Charlotte’s five starters scored 20 points tonight as ewell.
The Wizards’ next game is on Tuesday when they host the Philadelphia 76ers. Tip off is at 7 p.m. ET. See you then.
