Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily presented by Amazon Prime for January 27th, 2026. I'm Dave DeFore here with Zena Kata coming up. The Charlotte Hornets are going crazy. They've been scoring so many points. We're going to talk about that a little bit. The Cavs went nuts against the Magic.
And then we're going to talk to Josh Robbins about the Orlando Magic's latest loss and what they might do at the deadline. Good morning, everybody. What's up, Zena? How's it going? Going well, Dave. What up? We had a long day of hoops yesterday. The winter weather in the south scared a bunch of teams in the league into starting the games early.
The Atlanta Hawks played a game before I finished breakfast. out here in California.
Chapter 2: What recent successes have the Charlotte Hornets achieved?
So if you guys were watching hoops all day like us, you might have seen the Charlotte Hornets go nuts. They had a 50-point lead going into the fourth quarter against our Sixers that we've been pretty high on. No Joel Embiid. Only six points from Tyrese Maxey. But 130 to one or excuse me, 130 to 93. The Hornets win big over the Sixers.
And I actually think it's just time again to talk about the Hornets. They've been really good lately. You know, Brandon Miller put up 30 in this game, but it's been a different guy almost every single night for them. We talked a lot this season about Conca Nipple. LaMelo Ball has kind of had an up and down year, but it does feel like. He is a part of what they're doing.
They've landed on their best five-man lineup, and that's their new starting lineup. And frankly, Zena, Moussa Diabate has sort of been the secret to their success. He moved into the starting lineup, and things have changed for them. I'm going to look at the last 15 games. They're first in offense, fifth in defense, first in net rating.
And their best five-man lineup has been Miles Bridges, Diabate, Brandon Miller, LaMelo Ball, Con Canipple. And that's been their starting lineup here recently. They look great.
Yeah, I'm loving the fact that when you look at Charlotte right now, you talk about their big three. There's a little bit of, like, variance sometimes, right? Is it LaMelo with Miles Bridges and Con Canipple? Is it Con Canipple with Brandon? I mean, Brandon Miller's got to be in there, obviously, right? Yeah. There is a little bit of variance, and that's great.
That's what you want to see in a starting five, especially in a young core. And this is why everyone's so excited about Charlotte, because they're just one big away from being a solid contender. What if Moussa Diabate is the big? Maybe he is.
They've got this other guy, Ryan Kalkbrenner, coming off the bench, who essentially doesn't miss around the basket. They have a squad, Zena.
Unbelievable. They do. They do. And they're young and they're hungry and they're having fun. And Musa Diabate, I'm happy you brought him up like he. I've seen a lot of folks say this, but I can see it. I want to I wish I was with us and you because, yeah, most improved like he could be another guy to add to the list.
I know it's too many in one of those seasons, though, where. We've had, I feel like, and add Musa Diabate to the list of guys who are kind of breaking out.
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Chapter 3: How did Donovan Mitchell perform in the game against the Magic?
But... I would imagine goal number one, if they can, is to get under the tax without hurting their competitiveness right now. And I think the Tyus Jones move would qualify.
Yeah, I know fans love it when their team ducks the tax. That's what we all root for. That's why we get up in the morning. Josh Robbins, go read him at The Athletic. Thanks for hanging out with us. Appreciate you, buddy. Brazina Keita and Josh Robbins. I'm Dave Dufour, and this has been the NBA Daily. Thanks for waking up with us.