Using NBA 2K20 to finish the Charlotte Hornets’ 2019-20 season

With the NBA’s regular-season suspended indefinitely, NBA 2K20 was able to tell us how the Charlotte Hornets would’ve finished the season.

As days have passed since the first player was diagnosed with COVID-19, the Charlotte Hornets have continued to wait out the NBA’s suspension of the regular season. Even though Commissioner Adam Silver declared a 30-day minimum suspension, that does not guarantee the season will resume.

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The Hornets are coming off one of their most impressive wins of the season against the Miami Heat. The team trailed by 20 points early on, but they managed to take control and lead for the second half of the game.

With this win, the Hornets sit with a 23-42 record, and they are the 10th ranked team in the Eastern Conference Standings. With recent games, it’s easy to see how much this team has improved.

If the Hornets ended the season now, they would likely be looking at the 8th spot in this year’s draft. If the Hornets were aiming for the best chance to get a high pick, then finishing the season is essential.

Since there is no guarantee that the league will continue after the 30-day suspension, NBA 2K20 was able to tell us how the Hornets would finish the season. To make sure this simulation was realistic, the “Start Today” option was used.

In this simulation, the Hornets’ most recent rotation was used, and Malik Monk was not included for the rest of the season due to his suspension. Since the game has not been updated since 3/10, I had to force a win over the Miami Heat.  With these changes, the simulation finished with no other interferences.

When the simulation finished the regular season, the Hornets finished with a record of 29-53. As the simulation was not tampered with, the Hornets did lose some easy games, while also winning some tough ones.

Devonte’ Graham ended up winning the Most-Improved-Player Award, while also finishing the season as the Hornets’ leading scorer. Graham finished by averaging 18.8 points and 7.2 assists per game.

The 2K simulation also graced Graham with 275 made three-pointers. With this amount of made threes, Graham would break Kemba Walker’s season and franchise record for three-pointers made in a season.

Moreover, the simulation had PJ Washington finish on the NBA’s All-Rookie 2nd team. Washington finished the season by averaging 11.9 points, 5.8 rebounds per game.

To cap it off, the Martin brothers both finished with similar numbers, as both of them finished by averaging over six points per game.

Following the regular season, NBA 2K20 had Giannis Antetokounmpo finish as the season’s MVP, and the Los Angeles Lakers won the championship against the Philadelphia 76ers. If you think this was a strange finish, then you’re not the only one.

Heading into the offseason, the Hornets got lucky and managed to land the 4th pick in the draft. This was exciting since the Hornets have not held a pick this high since they drafted Cody Zeller at 4th overall in 2013.

With this draft pick, the simulation then had the Hornets draft Tyrese Maxey, who is a shooting guard from Kentucky. Players like James Wiseman and Vernon Carey Jr. both dropped to the end of the lottery. The draft concluded this simulation on NBA 2K20.

With this simulation, do you agree with how 2K had the Hornets finish the season? Tweet us @SwarmnSting with your own NBA 2K predictions for the rest of the season.