What should we make of the Hornets’ core? As trade deadline looms, is time running out?

Not much had been normal, making the Charlotte Hornets all the more anxious.

After leaving Southern California earlier than anticipated, flying into the desert Saturday afternoon way ahead of their previously-scheduled arrival since both outings were postponed due to the raging wildfires, they just wanted to get back to what they enjoy most: playing basketball.

“The last few days was a mix of a lot of emotion,” coach Charles Lee said Sunday night. “We obviously have a few players that are from the L.A. area and so knowing how much their families have been impacted, their friends have been impacted, for us to be in the area and see families coming into the hotel that have just been displaced from their home for whatever reasons, you start to feel some sympathy and empathy for those people.

“So, our hearts and thoughts and prayers are with them. And we were trying to balance, while we were out there, just being safe, being sensitive to the situation that was going on, while also trying to find moments where we can still get a little bit of basketball. Go touch a ball, go to a gym, and keep trying to build positive habits for the team.”

In returning to work for the first time in five days as a result of their unexpected break, the Hornets’ 120-113 loss to the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center represented another mini milestone. It marked just the second occasion all season Charlotte’s starting unit was intact at the outset in consecutive games, indicating just how rare full health has been for the Hornets.

That’s why it’s hard to definitively evaluate these Hornets (8-28) and determine how they should proceed with the roster as the Feb. 6 NBA trade deadline approaches. There’s just not a good enough sample size for team led by a starting unit that moved to 1-4 following their outing against the Suns.

Unlike in their meeting in Charlotte five days earlier, the Hornets didn’t make the requisite plays to close it out, unraveling despite hanging with — and leading — the Suns for the better part of night in the desert, allowing Phoenix to rip off a game-ending 19-5 spurt.

“Last time we played the Suns, we did the little things in the clutch to win,” Miles Bridges said. “And I feel like we didn’t do that. We let them be more physical, get offensive rebounds, messed up coverages. So, that’s just on us. We are going to watch the film, get better. But that’s definitely a game that we want back right there.”

Just more growing pains for a team that’s dropped 18 of its last 20 games and has won consecutive games only once during the 2024-25 campaign — back during the first week of November.

“This is going to be a great learning experience for us to just continue to get better,” Lee said. “Especially with that group we had there at the end of the game.”

People keep waiting for the Hornets to show a semblance of consistency, an issue born out of the cascade of injuries that’s likely robbed them of any true shot at snapping the longest playoff drought currently in the NBA. Instead, they’re in a feeling-out process of sorts, trying to figure out strengths of the collective five-man playing groups spearheaded by the game-opening lineup.

“Obviously, it’s a different time of the year where most guys have kind of played with their starting unit,” Josh Green said. “But I think we are still all learning each other and I think we are all doing a great job. I think last game was a great step in how we play and our identity and we just need to keep it up.”

If there’s reason for the Hornets to be heartened, they can take solace in what Mark Williams is doing. Williams, in igniting a starting five that had four players crack double digits in scoring against the Suns, was extremely impressive, feasting inside to the tune of a season-best 24 points, 16 rebounds, four assists and a block.

The 7-footer amassed 22 points and 13 rebounds before halftime, making him the second player in franchise history since at least 1996-97 to accomplish the feat, and becoming the third player to do it this season, joining Denver’s Nikola Jokic and San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama.

“I just wanted to come out, be aggressive obviously,” Williams said. “The first game (against Phoenix), we won by playing with pace. So, I just wanted to go out there, and start with those things and it showed for itself.”

Playing more alongside LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller doesn’t hurt, either.

“They’re both super talented and being on the floor makes my life a little easier,” Williams said. “So, it’s definitely great being on the floor with them.”

Williams’ continuing emergence, along with the Hornets’ sputtering record and relentless play of Moussa Diabaté while Williams and Nick Richards were shelved with injuries, could spur movement at the position before the trade deadline.

Richards appears to be on the Suns’ radar, a league source told The Observer, and rumors are beginning to churn around the backup center, who surely tantalized Phoenix decision-makers with that 15-point, 12-rebound, three-block effort in the first matchup between the two teams.

But until the wheels of change start turning, it’s imperative for the Hornets to establish some kind of positive consistency, collectively bringing them in a different direction: winning.

“We’ll all get on the same page,” Miller said. “It’s a long season. We’ll be on the same page one of these days. Whether it’s next week or tomorrow.”

That’s their hope. Otherwise, the makeup of the roster will slowly begin to look a tad bit different over the coming weeks, just as it did nearly a year ago when the Hornets sent Terry Rozier to Miami for a protected 2027 first-round pick weeks before the trade deadline.

In a sense, the Hornets’ core is on the clock and time could be running out.