Could the Charlotte Hornets win an NBA title if the league were to start fresh?

Sadly, the Charlotte Hornets are not likely to win an NBA championship anytime soon, at least not in the real world. In the virtual world, though, anything is possible, including fantasy drafts.

As most of us continue to stay hunkered down, waiting for everything to blow over, the world of video games has served as a popular retreat for millions of people across the globe. This includes, of course, many Charlotte Hornets fans looking to earn their favorite team an NBA championship.

Yes, it’s all essentially make-believe, but virtual sports fans can take their games very seriously, including yours truly. So, while we remain sequestered from the rest of the world, controllers in hand, let us here at the Swarm and Sting perform a few experiments, shall we?

Before we start, I do want to say that that as much as modern sports games pride themselves on being accurate simulations of real sports, they simply aren’t, and probably never will be. Math and calculations exist in real life, sure, but, the realm of sports is filled with all sorts of intangibles that a computer cannot comprehend. They can try their best, but they will always be governed by rules to which the real world doesn’t always adhere.

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So, we’ll simply do the best we can with what we have and what we have is NBA 2K20. The 2K series has been the de facto basketball video game franchise for the better part of 20 years now and shows no sign of slowing down. That’s both a good and bad thing, but I won’t go too deep into that right now.

What it means for us is basically nothing, but what it means for the Charlotte Hornets could potentially be huge… as huge as a virtual NBA championship could be, that is. We’re not going to be playing by conventional means though. That would take far too long if we were starting from where we are now.

No, what we’re going to do is something that, were it to happen in real life, would be a league shattering event. We’re going to shake it up as much as we can and that means re-drafting the entire NBA.

There will be rules, however, and outside of this unprecedented affair, we will be staying as close to the real-world rules and regulations of the NBA as we can. We will be using the standard NBA draft format. I will also be playing whatever hand the CPU deals me, meaning whatever draft position I am assigned, I will take it.

I will also not be using trades nor will I be signing free-agents. I will let the CPU handle the rotations should injuries occur (and they will), and I will be simulating every game. There will be no custom rosters or any of that, and I will only be playing one season at a time. If the Charlotte Hornets cannot win a title immediately, then that season is forfeit and I will try all over again with a new draft.

For the sake of brevity, I will only be doing this a maximum of three times. So the Hornets will have three chances to draft a winning team and win it all. If not, then the virtual basketball gods hate them as much as the real ones do.

So without further ado, let’s get started.