The Spectrum Center wasn’t exactly quiet all summer, but fall’s gala is about to light up the building like only the NBA’s competition can. The Charlotte Hornets are poised to tip off their 2025-26 NBA slate versus the visiting Brooklyn Nets at 7 p.m. EST this Wednesday.
Charlotte’s 105-102 win over Brooklyn on March 8 of this year snapped a three-game Hornets losing skid in their series with the Nets. However, the Hornets are (-5) point spread favorites over the Nets this week.
Charlotte’s lineup is promising enough for sportsbooks to tout 2025’s Hornets as dark-horse candidates to make the playoffs next spring. Brooklyn, by contrast, is still considered a prospects’ team without a serious chance to reach the postseason. The Nets go into the 2025-26 season as the youngest team in the NBA.
Hornets -5 (-101)Nets +5 (-105)Over 227 (-109)Under 227 (+106)
Note: The above data was collected on Oct. 22, 2025, and may have changed since writing.
Charlotte Hornets vs Brooklyn Nets Betting Trends Brooklyn is 8-4 against Charlotte in the teams’ last 12 meetings.Charlotte has lost to Brooklyn twice in a row at the Spectrum Center.Betting totals went under in the previous three Hornets-Nets games. Charlotte Hornets vs Brooklyn Nets Injury Reports Shooting guard Josh Green remains out with a left shoulder injury.Forward Grant Williams is out following surgery for a torn ACL. Forward Haywood Highsmith is out with a knee injury.Charlotte Hornets vs Brooklyn Nets Predictions and Picks
James Herbert of CBS Sports believes that as talented as Charlotte’s roster is in places, the club’s dicey defense gives LaMelo Ball’s team a small margin-of-error while trying to manufacture a watershed season in 2025-26. “(Ball’s) vision and touch are undeniable … (but Charlotte’s) two best defenders, Josh Green and Grant Williams, will be sidelined at the beginning of the season.”
Are the Brooklyn Nets capable of taking advantage? Brooklyn tied with Charlotte for a league-worst 105.1 points-per-game average last season, a campaign in which the Nets were last in the NBA with fewer than 38 field goals per contest. The youthful Nets have made few roster changes that could impact the scoring stats for the better this year, although Brooklyn did score 121 regulation-time points in a 132-127 OT defeat to the Phoenix Suns in preseason, paced by the Nets’ guard Cam Thomas with 22 points.
Expect the Charlotte Hornets to try to beat the Brooklyn Nets with a conservative game plan, eschewing the offensive glass in favor of team defense. Pick the under-total-points for a winning bet on Wednesday.