Charlotte Hornets

Are the Charlotte Hornets in the luxury tax in 2028-29?

Season2026-27 2027-282028-292029-30 2030-31

No. The Hornets are $158.7M below the luxury-tax line for 2028-29 (projected).

Tax line

$230.0M

Tax payroll

$71.3M

Margin

$158.7M

The tax line sits at $230.0M (projected), and the Hornets' tax payroll (contracts plus dead money; cap holds don't count) is $71.3M. They can add up to $158.7M 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.

This is a forward look at 2028-29: it counts the contracts, options, and cap holds already on the Hornets books for that season. Signings, trades, and option decisions between now and then will move these numbers.

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

Do the Charlotte Hornets have cap space in 2028-29?Are the Charlotte Hornets over the apron in 2028-29?Do the Charlotte Hornets have the mid-level exception in 2028-29?Can the Charlotte Hornets sign a max free agent in 2028-29?Who are the Charlotte Hornets free agents in 2028-29?What draft picks do the Charlotte Hornets have?

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