Charlotte Hornets
The Charlotte Hornets are a professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, competing in the NBA's Eastern Conference. Established in 1988, the franchise has a unique history that includes the transition from the original Hornets, who relocated to New Orleans, to the Charlotte Bobcats, created as an expansion team in 2004. Despite their long-standing presence in the league, the Hornets have struggled to achieve substantial success, making only ten playoff appearances since their inception and never advancing past the second round. The team's ownership included basketball legend Michael Jordan from 2010 to 2023, during which they faced challenges, including a historically poor season in 2011-2012. Key players in the franchise's history include Muggsy Bogues, Alonzo Mourning, Larry Johnson, and Kemba Walker, with Walker standing out as the all-time leading scorer. The Hornets reclaimed their original name and history in 2014, rebranding themselves with the iconic teal and purple colors. Despite their efforts to revitalize the team, the Hornets have continued to experience difficulties in achieving winning seasons in recent years.
Charlotte Hornets
Team information
- Inaugural season: 1988
- Home arena: Spectrum Center, Charlotte, North Carolina
- Owner: Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall
- Team colors: Teal, dark purple, gray, and white
Overview
The Charlotte Hornets are a professional basketball team that plays in the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Eastern Conference. The franchise has a complex background, as it technically originated as the expansion Charlotte Bobcats in 2004; however, it claims the official history of a previous Hornets team that relocated to New Orleans two years earlier. In either form—as the Hornets or Bobcats—the Charlotte franchise has been among the NBA’s least successful teams. Since 1988, the franchise has made only ten postseason appearances, never winning a division title or advancing past the second round of the playoffs. In 2011–2012, Charlotte set an NBA record for futility by posting the worst single-season winning percentage in NBA history. From 2010 to 2023, the franchise was owned by Michael Jordan, who is considered by many to be the greatest player in NBA history.
History
In the mid-1980s, the NBA was experiencing an unprecedented growth in popularity and looking to expand into new markets. In 1985, North Carolina businessperson George Shinn organized a group of investors to make a bid for a team in Charlotte, North Carolina. Charlotte was considered an ideal site for a new team, as the city was among the fastest-growing in the country at the time, and the region was home to several prominent college basketball teams. In 1987, the NBA awarded Shinn’s group a new franchise to begin play in the 1988–1989 season.
The franchise’s original name was announced as the Spirit, but when that was met with strong criticism from fans, team officials decided to hold a name-the-team contest. Names such as Cougars, Crowns, Knights, and Stars were considered, but Hornets was the overwhelming choice among fans. The name had historical significance for Charlotte dating back to the days of the American Revolution. It is said that as British General Lord Cornwallis encountered fierce American resistance in the city, he referred to Charlotte as a “hornets’ nest of rebellion.” The Hornets name was also used by a previous minor league baseball team in the city and a short-lived professional football team.
Charlotte was placed in the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division in its first season, finishing in last place with a 20–62 record. In 1989–1990, the team was moved to the Western Conference where it finished 19–63 and in last place in the Midwest Division. The next season, the Hornets were moved back to the Eastern Conference, this time to the Central Division, but the result was the same—a 26–56 record and another last-place finish. However, the losing record allowed Charlotte to be in a position to win the 1991 NBA Draft lottery and select forward Larry Johnson from the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Johnson’s presence led to a slight improvement in 1991–1992, but the Hornets still finished near the bottom of the standings. In the 1992 NBA Draft, Charlotte picked second and selected center Alonzo Mourning out of Georgetown University.
The two men helped lead the Hornets to their first playoff appearance in 1992–1993 and a return trip in 1994–1995. However, Johnson’s career was sidetracked by a lingering back injury, and Mourning was traded in 1995. One of the players Charlotte received in return for Mourning was forward Glen Rice, who led the Hornets to two 50-win seasons—including a franchise-best 54-win mark in 1996–1997—before being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Charlotte missed the playoffs that season, but rebounded to make three consecutive postseason appearances from 2000 to 2002.
However, the success of the early 2000s was diminished by animosity between Hornets’ owner George Shinn and the city of Charlotte. Shinn had been charged and later acquitted of sexual assault, but the trial had severely damaged his reputation. He was also engaged in a battle with city officials over the construction of a new arena. In 2001, Shinn unsuccessfully tried to relocate the franchise to Memphis; a year later, he was granted approval to move the Hornets to New Orleans.
With the Hornets gone, the NBA promised that Charlotte would receive an expansion franchise to begin play in the 2004–2005 season. That franchise was awarded to Robert Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television, making him the first African American team owner in the four major US professional sports. In a name-the-team contest, Bobcats was chosen over other popular suggestions, Dragons and Flight. The name did not go over well with many fans, who mistakenly believed that the team was named after Johnson. In 2005, the team moved into a new downtown arena, a facility later renamed the Spectrum Center in 2017. A year later, retired NBA superstar Michael Jordan became a minority owner of the Bobcats; in 2010, Jordan bought out Johnson to become the team’s majority owner.
The Bobcats played like a typical expansion franchise, winning just eighteen games in their first season. The situation did not improve much over the next decade, with Charlotte finishing under .500 and out of the postseason seven times over the next eight seasons. Their lone playoff appearance after the 2009–2010 season ended in the first round; the 2011–2012 season reached historic lows as the Bobcats lost their last twenty-three games to finish 7–59. The .106 winning percentage was the worst mark in NBA history.
In New Orleans, Shinn’s Hornets franchise was deep in debt, leading to an effort by minority owners to buy the team. When that effort failed, the NBA stepped in and took control of the franchise. With the team in danger of being moved elsewhere, New Orleans businessperson Tom Benson bought the franchise with the promise of keeping it in the city. Benson wanted to rebrand the team so that it better represented New Orleans and Louisiana. In 2013, the team was renamed the Pelicans.
Seizing on the opportunity, team officials in Charlotte petitioned the NBA to reclaim the name Hornets. Their request was granted in 2013 with the changeover becoming official for the 2014–2015 season. Furthermore, the two franchises negotiated an agreement to transfer the team’s history prior to its 2002 move to New Orleans back to Charlotte. This meant that any records, statistics, or team accomplishments that occurred before that date would be returned to Charlotte. Anything under the Hornets’ name after 2002 would stay in New Orleans.
The new Charlotte Hornets repurposed the original franchise’s teal, purple, and white color scheme and adopted it for their revamped logo. Instead of a cartoonish basketball-dribbling hornet, the new logo featured an angrier looking insect. Despite the rebranding, the new Hornets franchise continued to have trouble sustaining success on the court. The team did win forty-eight games in 2015–2016 and advanced to the playoffs, only to be eliminated in the first round. From 2017 to 2023, the Hornets finished under .500 in all but one season and fell short of the playoffs each time.
Notable players
The Hornets first star was point guard Muggsy Bogues, who at five-foot-three was the shortest player in NBA history. Bogues was drafted by the Washington Bullets in 1987 and selected by Charlotte in the 1988 expansion draft. In more than nine seasons with the Hornets, Bogues accumulated 5,557 assists and 1,067 steals—both franchise records. Larry Johnson won the 1992 NBA Rookie of the Year Award and made two All-Star teams with Charlotte. Before being traded to the New York Knicks in 1996, Johnson pulled in 3,479 rebounds with the Hornets, second-most in franchise history. Alonzo Mourning made two All-Star teams in his three seasons in Charlotte. He would go on to make five more over the course of his fifteen-year career and win two NBA Defensive Player of the Year Awards. Mourning was elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014.
Guard Dell Curry played for the Hornets from 1988 to 1998 and is second on the franchise scoring list with 9,839 points. Glen Rice played just three seasons in Charlotte from 1995 to 1998, but made the All-Star team in each season. The franchise’s first star as the Bobcats was forward Gerald Wallace, who played in Charlotte from 2004 to 2011. Wallace made the 2010 All-Star team and is third on the franchise points list with 7,437 and rebounds with 3,398. The Hornets’ all-time leader in rebounds is forward/center Emeka Okafor, who won the 2005 Rookie of the Year Award. Okafor pulled in 3,516 rebounds from 2004 to 2009. The best player in franchise history is arguably guard Kemba Walker, who played for Charlotte from 2011 to 2019. Walker made three of his four All-Star appearances with the team and is the franchise leader in points scored with 12,009. He also leads in three-point field goals with 1,283 and is second in assists with 3,308.
Bibliography
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Lewis, Ted. “Pelicans, Hornets Swap of Names, Record Books Can Cause Confusion.” Nola.com, 24 Nov. 2014, www.nola.com/sports/pelicans/article‗b994d7f5-abd1-596a-8ddf-b1df8796eae6.html. Accessed 26 Apr. 2020.
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