Charlotte Hornets

The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at the Spectrum Center in Uptown Charlotte. Overview The Charlotte Hornets franchise was established in 1988 as an expansion team owned by George Shinn. In 2002, Shinn moved the Hornets to New Orleans as an expansion team. They continued to play as the Hornets until 2013, when they changed their name to the New Orleans Pelicans. As part of an agreement with the NBA, Charlotte returned for the 2004–05 NBA season, known as the Charlotte Bobcats. In 2013, the Bobcats announced they would rebrand to the Charlotte Hornets beginning with the 2014–15 season. On the day the name change became official, the franchise reclaimed the history and records of the original Charlotte Hornets spanning from 1988 to 2002. As a result, the league considers the Hornets retrospectively having suspended operations from 2002 to 2004. In August 2023, it was announced that a group of investors led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall had purchased a majority stake in the Hornets. Until then, the team was controlled by Michael Jordan, a former NBA player and member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.