The regular season was marred in terms of injuries. Only Rasual Butler managed to play in all games, with the remaining four starters missing a combined 68 games, of which, most importantly, center Tyson Chandler missed 37 games. Even when not on the injured list, Chandler's season was sub-par. Perhaps partly as a result of this, on February 18 Chandler was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder for forwards Joe Smith and Chris Wilcox. Despite the less than stellar season, this was generally perceived as a payroll-shedding move. However, within a day, the trade was rescinded due to concerns regarding Chandlers turf toe, which curiously, according to Chandler and the Hornet organization was not the reason for his stints on the injury list.

Battling these issues for much of the season, the Hornets finished the season with a record of 49–33, 7 games off the franchise best record of the previous season. This meant that the Hornets only finished 4th in the Southwest Division and 7th in the Western Conference. In the 2009 NBA Playoffs the Hornets lost 4-1 in the first round to the second seeded Denver Nuggets. All four losses were severe, the worst being a 58-point drubbing at home in game 4 which tied for the most lopsided loss in NBA Playoff history. Naturally lamented by fans and media alike, the embarrassing performance can at least be partly explained by the health situation of the players, with arguably the top 5 Hornets ailing to varying injuries.

On July 9 the Hornets announced they had signed their All Star point guard Chris Paul to a contract extension. Hornets owner George Shinn saying ''Chris is the face of our franchise and a leader both on and off the court...Getting him signed to an extension was our number one priority...'' On July 23 it was announced the Hornets had acquired free agent forward James Posey. Posey, a member of the 2008 Boston Celtics team that won the championship said ''I am excited to be a Hornet, it was a coveted destination for me...''

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Wikipedia