The Charlotte Hornets left town, came back as Bobcats, then reclaimed their own past
Charlotte's NBA team moved to New Orleans in 2002. A new franchise, the Bobcats, arrived in 2004, and a decade later, once New Orleans had become the Pelicans, it took back the Hornets name along with the original team's records. On paper, Charlotte now has one continuous franchise.
The first Hornets were George Shinn's project. The Kannapolis entrepreneur won the NBA's 24th franchise in April 1987, betting on a new arena seating almost 24,000, the largest basketball-only home any NBA team had ever used. The name came from a fan contest, beating the planned Charlotte Spirit, and nods to the British general Cornwallis, said to have called the town a hornet's nest of rebellion in 1780. Teal uniforms with pinstripes, designed by Alexander Julian, set off a fashion craze.
Fans packed in despite a 20–62 first season. The team led the league in attendance eight times and sold out 364 games in a row. Larry Johnson, the first pick in 1991, and Alonzo Mourning led the club to its first playoff berth in its fifth season. On draft day in 1996 Charlotte picked Kobe Bryant 13th and promptly traded his rights to the Lakers for center Vlade Divac, then posted a 54–28 record, its best to that point.
Attendance later slumped, reportedly because Shinn had grown unpopular locally, and the NBA approved the move south. To replace the team, a group led by BET founder Robert L. Johnson paid a $300 million expansion fee, making him the first African American majority owner in major US professional sports since the Negro leagues. A fan vote picked Flight as the new name, but Johnson's team rejected it and chose Bobcats instead.
Michael Jordan bought a minority stake in 2006 and took majority control in 2010, before selling it to investors led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall in August 2023. As of 2026 the Hornets remain the only NBA franchise never to win a division title.
Source: Charlotte Hornets
