The Charlotte Hornets play host to the San Antonio Spurs at AT&T Center on Saturday.

The Hornets (16-32) come into this matchup losing nine of their last 10 games. In fact, they started the season with a 13-17 record and have just three wins since then. That 13-17 start was actually quite the surprise for many people and it's still been a successful season despite the horrid stretch. This is a team that many people thought would finish dead-last in the NBA and it was widely believed that they would struggle to get to even 20 wins. That says a lot about the improvement of the players, with Terry Rozier, Devonte' Graham and P.J. Washington all showing major growth this season. Getting player development is really the only thing that matters in a rebuilding season and it has this franchise headed in the right direction despite what the record indicates.

The Spurs (21-26) have been a different team over the last few weeks, trying their best to climb back into playoff contention. They now find themselves just 2.5 games back of the Memphis Grizzlies in eighth despite the fact that Memphis seemingly wins every night. While a 7-6 record over their last 13 games might not look like anything special, it's actually impressive when you consider the competition. San Antonio has victories over the Milwaukee Bucks, Utah Jazz, Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics in that stretch. Getting through that gauntlet of a schedule is certainly a positive sign moving forward and it's hard to overlook the fact that this club has made the postseason in 20-straight years coming into the season.

This is the first meeting between these teams after Charlotte swept the two-game season series last year. Prior to that, the Spurs won 14 of their previous 15 games over the Hornets in total.