The Cleveland Cavaliers will host the Charlotte Hornets at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on Wednesday evening.

The Hornets posted a 23-42 record in the shortened 2019-20 NBA season and were one of the teams that couldn't make it into the Orlando bubble, ending in 10th place of the Eastern Conference. Their backcourt duo of Terry Rozier and Davonte' Graham will be Charlotte's main weapon this season, but they also have to find minutes for their first-round pick LaMelo Ball, who has looked great in the preseason at times. Despite the fact winds of change might be felt in Charlotte, the reality is that the team is still far from being a playoff contender and a low-seed finish might be their best-case scenario given how the roster is currently assembled. They finished as the worst offense in the league, though, since they scored a meager 102.9 points per game while allowing 109.6 points per game, the 12th-best mark in The Association. They need to improve their execution on the offensive side of the ball in order to make a playoff push in 2020-21.

The Hornets are not announcing any notable injury absentees, although Grant Riller (knee) has been deemed as a game-time decision.

Just like the Hornets, the Cavaliers didn't make it to the Orlando bubble last season after finishing the 2019-20 shortened season with a 19-46 record that ranked as the worst in the Eastern Conference. The Cavaliers ranked as the fifth-worst defense in the league with 106.9 points scored per game, but they had even bigger issues on the other end of the court -- they allowed 114.8 points per contest, a figure that ranked as the eighth-worst in the league but as the third-worst in the East, only above the Washington Wizards and the Atlanta Hawks. The Cavaliers are in a rebuilding process and will once again trust young players such as Darius Garland and Collin Sexton, but their playoff expectations are slim to none.

The Cavaliers might be depleted for Opening Night based on their current injury list. Kevin Love (calf), Matthew Dellavedova (back), Dante Exum (hip) and Kevin Porter (personal) are all deemed as game-time decisions for this contest.