History of the Charlotte Hornets
George Shinn, an entrepreneur from Kannapolis, North Carolina, wanted to bring an NBA team to the Charlotte area, and he assembled a group of prominent local businessmen to head the prospective franchise.
Unlike many expansion franchises that invest in the future with a team composed entirely of young players, Charlotte stocked its inaugural roster with several veterans in hopes of putting a competitive lineup on the court right away.
Members of the team rebelled against Dick Harter's defense-oriented style, and he was replaced mid-season by assistant Gene Littles following a dismal 8–32 start.
[31] The Johnson–Mourning era came to an end as the Hornets traded Mourning to the Miami Heat for forward Glen Rice, center Matt Geiger, and guard Khalid Reeves.
[35] The 1996 off-season was again marked by vast changes: Anderson declined to re-sign, Johnson was shipped to the Knicks for power forward Anthony Mason, and the team made a trade on draft day 1996.
[36][37] The new-look Hornets were successful, with Divac and Geiger providing the center combination, Mason averaging a double-double, Bogues back at the point, and Rice having the finest season of his career.
[49] Glen Rice was traded to the Lakers for Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell,[50] and Dave Cowens resigned midway through the season, with the highest winning percentage among Hornets head coaches.
[53] The Hornets tore through much of the season, but tragedy struck on January 12, 2000, when fan favorite and top reserve Bobby Phills was killed in an automobile accident.
The team's popularity had begun to sag due to fan discontent with owner George Shinn's personnel moves; he had reportedly traded Mourning and other stars out of an unwillingness to pay market value.
[60] While they upset the third-seeded Heat in the first round and made it to the conference semifinals for the third time in franchise history,[61] they lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in seven games.
[82] Since Charlotte was already home to the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League, designer Chris Weiller created the team logo to alay confusion or close comparison.
[85] A new arena to host the Bobcats at uptown Charlotte began construction in July 2003, and the team played its home games at the Coliseum until the new building was ready.
After failed attempts at the ballot box to force the team to fully fund the arena, city politicians implemented a hotel and leisure tax in Charlotte to help pay for it.
[88] Shortly after, they traded with the Los Angeles Clippers to acquire the second pick in the 2004 NBA draft, which they used to select Emeka Okafor, a center from Connecticut.
[96] After the season, the Bobcats announced that NBA legend and North Carolina native Michael Jordan had bought a minority stake in the team, becoming the second-largest shareholder.
[101] Phil Ford was added to the coaching staff over the summer,[102] and another position was filled when Buzz Peterson was hired from Coastal Carolina University to become director of player personnel.
[103] In the 2007 NBA draft, Brandan Wright was selected by the Bobcats with the eighth pick, then traded to Golden State in a deal that sent Jason Richardson to Charlotte.
[109] On December 10, 2008, a little over a month into the season, the Bobcats traded their leading scorer, Jason Richardson along with Jared Dudley to Phoenix in exchange for Boris Diaw and Raja Bell.
[114] They traded Emeka Okafor for New Orleans Hornets center Tyson Chandler, and acquired Stephen Jackson and Acie Law from the Golden State Warriors.
[122] On February 24, 2011, at the NBA trade deadline, the Bobcats moved to clear salary cap space by sending former all-star forward Gerald Wallace to the Portland Trail Blazers for two first round draft picks, Joel Przybilla, Sean Marks, and Dante Cunningham.
[124] Going down the stretch, the injuries to Stephen Jackson and Tyrus Thomas derailed any chances of Charlotte trying to catch the Indiana Pacers, who swept them 4–0 in the regular season to secure the eighth spot in the east.
[125] On June 13, 2011, the Bobcats hired former Portland Trail Blazers general manager Rich Cho for their own GM and promoted Rod Higgins to president of basketball operations.
[139] Deputy Commissioner and COO Adam Silver had previously said it could take 18 months, but the fact that the league owned the rights to the Hornets name could speed up the process.
[143] On November 22, in a widely expected move, the Bobcats announced they would adopt a modified version of the original Hornets' teal-purple-white palette, with black, gray and light blue as accents.
[144][145] The team unveiled its future logo during halftime of their December 21 game against the Utah Jazz, in a ceremony featuring former Hornets players Dell Curry (now the Bobcats' television color commentator), Muggsy Bogues, Rex Chapman and Kelly Tripucka.
[155] In the same draft they acquired UConn Husky Shabazz Napier (24th overall pick), Dwight Powell from Stanford, and Semaj Christon from Xavier in the second round.
[173] The following year's off-season, Jeremy Lin would go to sign with the Brooklyn Nets, Al Jefferson to the Indiana Pacers, and Courtney Lee to the New York Knicks.
[174][175][176] The Hornets were able to re-sign Nicolas Batum and Marvin Williams, as well as bring in former All-star Roy Hibbert, Marco Belinelli and Ramon Sessions for a second stint.
[190] On 7 February, Hornets traded Johnny O'Bryant III and two future second round picks to the New York Knicks in exchange for Willy Hernangómez.
On June 16, 2023, Michael Jordan declared his intention to sell his majority share in the team to a consortium led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall.
