Charlotte Hornets dropped from ESPN season finale

When the Charlotte Hornets schedule was announced it was no surprised to find an extreme lack of games featuring them on national television. The team wasn't exciting at all last year, and it's been a bit of a surprise to see them play as well as they have this season. However, they were still expected to at least compete for a playoff spot so Charlotte was given one game on ESPN. The season finale on April 13. Unfortunately, that game has been dropped.

ESPN picks up #Heat-#Celtics season finale for April 13 followed by #Jazz-#Lakers, drops #Magic-#Hornets.

— gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) April 8, 2016

While this is a bummer, it's at the same time not very surprising. The Hornets are a surefire lock to the make the playoffs at this point, and the end of the season will matter more about seeding races than clinching. The Orlando Magic on the other hand had a chance at competing for a playoff spot this year. Obviously that didn't happen, and their lackluster season is most likely the main reason behind getting booted off the national TV slot. Nobody wants to watch a bad Magic team, that might have just lost Aaron Gordon to the season with a concussion, against a Hornets team that most common fans probably don't have much interest in. The game replacing them, between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics on the other hand could have massive seeding implications. Both teams are not only battling for the three seed, but home court advantage in a four vs five matchup. It makes sense why that would get the national TV option over Charlotte.

Even so, while the decision makes sense, it's still disappointing. The Hornets are fun this year, and they've been really good on top of that. A national TV appearance to end the year would have been great exposure for a franchise that quite frankly nobody outside of Hornets fans seem to care about. Luckily, they'll get their chance to make an impact on viewers during the playoffs.