Charlotte Hornets forward Moussa Diabaté (14) looks for the pass defended by New York Knicks center/forward Mitchell Robinson

The Charlotte Hornets want to upgrade their frontcourt.

After crushing late-season (and Play-In losses) to the Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic, the Hornets learned a valuable lesson.

They need size and physicality.

New York Knicks star and upcoming UFA Mitchell Robinson fits the bill.

He's 7'0" and a much more physical player than Moussa Diabate as a center.

According to Marc Stein, the Hornets are one of the teams interested in him.

"Teams regularly relayed to me when I've asked around about Mitchell Robinson's status have pointed to the Chicago Bulls, Charlotte Hornets, Los Angeles Lakers and Toronto Raptors," the NBA insider wrote.

The Hornets are pretty cap-strapped, though.

The reason they can sign Coby White with little fuss is because they own his Bird rights.

They can exceed the salary cap to sign him.

Re-signing him and adding Robinson makes things interesting, but the Hornets can actually do it without the cap space.

They have a Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception that could work to sign Robinson.

They could also execute a sign-and-trade using Miles Bridges, Grant Williams, or Josh Green, all expiring contracts and potentially available players.

Adding Robinson would be a huge win.

He's a very good defensive big man, and in the NBA that has suddenly changed once again, having that is crucial.

Interior defense is growing in importance across the league, and the Hornets have to get with the times.

Charlotte found success, incredible success, with Moussa Diabate as the five.

If they bring in Robinson, this complicates things.

The Hornets desperately need what Diabate brings to the table in the starting five, but you just can't run a five-man unit with two players who cannot shoot from even the midrange.

Starting both Robinson and Diabate is not feasible, not unless one of them suddenly develops a jumper.

Fortunately, what Diabate does really well is not necessarily something Robinson struggles with.

Robinson's offensive rating was 4.3 points lower than Diabate's in 2025-26, but his defensive rating was also 1.6 points lower.

They're similar players in that regard.

Diabate's elite offensive rebounding is his bread and butter, but the Knicks big actually had a higher OREB% last season.

That's essentially what the Hornets need out of their center.

They need a player who will grind out offensive rebounds and play good defense.

Robinson can do that about as well as Diabate.

This would allow the Hornets to use a rotation of centers that doesn't really lose that.

When Ryan Kalkbrenner was in for the Hornets, the dynamic changed.

If Robinson and Diabate are rotating in and out, then that dynamic doesn't have to change, and the Hornets' frontcourt would probably be in much better shape.

Zachary Roberts is a journalist with a wide variety of experience covering basketball, golf, entertainment, video games, music, football, baseball, and hockey.

He currently covers Charlotte sports teams and has been featured on Sportskeeda, Yardbarker, MSN, and On SI.

This article has been shared from the original article on si, here is the link to the original article.