Charlotte Hornets

Are the Charlotte Hornets in the luxury tax in 2026-27?

Season2026-272027-282028-292029-302030-31

No. The Hornets are $52.6M below the luxury-tax line for 2026-27 (projected).
Tax line
$201.0M
Tax payroll
$148.4M
Margin
$52.6M

The tax line sits at $201.0M (projected), and the Hornets' tax payroll (contracts plus dead money; cap holds don't count) is $148.4M. They can add up to $52.6M in salary before paying tax.

Staying under the line also avoids repeater status, the higher rates charged to teams that pay tax in multiple recent seasons.

The rule behind this

The luxury tax is a financial penalty line above the salary cap. Teams whose payroll (contracts plus dead money; cap holds don't count here) exceeds it pay a tax on the overage, at rates that escalate in brackets the deeper a team goes.

What is the luxury tax?What is the salary floor?

More Hornets questions

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Numbers come straight from the live Hornets cap sheet, recomputed whenever the data updates.