Charlotte Hornets
The Charlotte Hornets have never won an NBA championship, never reached the NBA Finals, and never reached the Eastern Conference Finals. The franchise’s history is unusual for its ownership and naming structure: the original Charlotte Hornets franchise, founded as an expansion team in 1988, relocated to New Orleans in 2002. The NBA awarded Charlotte a new expansion franchise in 2004 (the Charlotte Bobcats). Michael Jordan purchased majority ownership in 2010. The Bobcats rebranded back to the Hornets in 2014 after New Orleans released the Hornets name. Jordan sold the franchise in 2023 to a group led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall. The franchise has made the playoffs twelve times across its thirty-six combined seasons but has not produced a deep playoff run.
The original Hornets (1988–2002)
The NBA awarded four expansion franchises in 1988 and 1989 (Miami, Charlotte, Orlando, Minnesota). The Charlotte ownership group was led by George Shinn, a North Carolina-based businessman. Shinn paid a $32.5 million expansion fee. The team name “Hornets” referenced the nickname given to Charlotte-area Revolutionary War militias by the British commander Lord Cornwallis. The teal-purple-and-white color scheme was designed by Alexander Julian, a North Carolina-born fashion designer.
The first head coach was Dick Harter. The 1988–89 Hornets went 20–62. They made the playoffs for the first time in 1993 under head coach Allan Bristow with Larry Johnson (1991’s first overall pick) and Alonzo Mourning (1992’s second overall pick). The 1992–93 Hornets beat the Boston Celtics in the first round and lost to the Knicks in the second. It was the only Bristow-era Hornets playoff series win.
Mourning was traded to Miami in November 1995 in a multi-player deal that returned Glen Rice to Charlotte. Mourning’s Miami chapter is covered on the Miami Heat page. The late-1990s Hornets, under head coach Dave Cowens and later Paul Silas, built around Rice, Anthony Mason, Vlade Divac, and Bobby Phills. Phills was killed in a January 2000 car accident, one of the most-mourned deaths in franchise history. His number 13 was retired the following season.
The 2002 New Orleans relocation
George Shinn attempted three times between 1997 and 2001 to secure a publicly-financed new Charlotte arena to replace the aging Charlotte Coliseum. The Charlotte city council and voter referendum rejected the proposal. A 2001 sexual-assault civil trial, in which a jury acquitted Shinn of allegations made by a former team attendant, damaged local public support for the franchise. In May 2002, the NBA approved the relocation of the Hornets to New Orleans.
The Bobcats expansion (2004–2014)
The NBA awarded Charlotte a new expansion franchise in December 2002 to begin play for the 2004–05 season. Ownership was granted to Bob Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television, who became the first Black majority owner of a major American professional sports franchise. The team was named the Charlotte Bobcats in reference to Johnson’s first name.
The Bobcats’ ten-year run produced one playoff appearance (2009–10, a first-round sweep by Orlando) and nine lottery seasons. Emeka Okafor (2004 first-round pick), Raymond Felton (2005 first-round pick), Gerald Wallace, and Michael Jordan’s later involvement as a managing member (starting in 2006) shaped the roster decisions. Jordan purchased majority ownership from Johnson in March 2010 for approximately $275 million, becoming, by some accountings, the first Black majority owner of an NBA franchise in the post-Johnson era. The Jordan-era Bobcats reached the 2013–14 playoffs before rebranding as the Hornets.
The 2014 rebrand
In December 2013, the NBA and Jordan jointly announced that the Bobcats would rebrand as the Charlotte Hornets for the 2014–15 season, taking over the name, the original teal-purple-white color scheme, and the Hugo mascot of the original franchise (which New Orleans had released when it rebranded to the Pelicans for the 2013–14 season). The rebrand restored the franchise’s original identity. It was the only NBA rebranding to directly reclaim a dormant team name.
The Hornets-era statistical record from 1988 onward is considered continuous for the 2014-forward Charlotte franchise, per the NBA’s 2014 declaration. The 2002–2013 New Orleans-era records (including the 2008 conference finals run and the 2013 lottery win that became Anthony Davis) are attributed to the New Orleans Pelicans.
The LaMelo Ball era (2020–present)
The 2020 NBA Draft produced LaMelo Ball with the third overall pick. Ball was 2020–21 Rookie of the Year. An All-Star in 2022. He has been limited by repeated ankle injuries. The 2021–22 Hornets reached the play-in tournament. The 2022–23 and 2023–24 Hornets missed the playoffs. The 2024–25 Hornets entered the season with lottery-level expected wins.
The team has not made a deep playoff run since the original Hornets’ 2001–02 season.
The 2023 sale
On June 16, 2023, Michael Jordan sold his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets to Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall for approximately $3.0 billion. Plotkin is the founder of Tallwoods Capital and was the founder of Melvin Capital, the hedge fund that lost approximately $6.8 billion in the 2021 GameStop short squeeze and wound down in 2022. Schnall is a co-president of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, a private-equity firm. Jordan retained a minority stake of approximately 5 percent. Minority owners include Daniel Sundheim (D1 Capital) and the rapper J. Cole.
The franchise’s 2025 Forbes valuation was approximately $2.7 billion.
Retired numbers
Two jersey numbers have been retired:
- Bobby Phills (13), retired 2000 following his death in a January 2000 car accident
- Muggsy Bogues (1) and Dell Curry (30) are widely expected future retirements but have not been formally retired
The 2013 Jersey Retirement Committee’s lack of activity in the early Bobcats era is widely attributed to the franchise’s identity transition. The 2014 Hornets rebrand included a commitment to “fully honor” the franchise’s Larry Johnson, Alonzo Mourning, and original-Hornets history.
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Sources
- Basketball-Reference, Charlotte Hornets franchise page
- Charlotte Observer, Hornets and Bobcats beat coverage, 1988–present
- NBA, December 2002 expansion-grant announcement (Charlotte Bobcats)
- Michael Jordan purchase records, March 2010 ($275 million)
- NBA rebranding press release, December 2013 (Bobcats to Hornets)
- Sportico, June 2023 coverage of Jordan-to-Plotkin-Schnall sale
- Forbes NBA Team Valuations, 2025
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