The Charlotte Hornets didn’t land a flashy lottery pick in the 2025 NBA Draft — but they may have found something more valuable: stability. Ryan Kalkbrenner, selected 34th overall out of Creighton University, arrives with one of the most polished defensive resumes of any college big man in recent memory. A four-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year and one of the NCAA’s top shot-blockers (2.7 rejections per game, 399 total), Kalkbrenner brings immediate rim protection to a Hornets roster in desperate need of it.
At 7-1, Kalkbrenner isn’t a pogo-stick athlete, but he doesn’t need to be.