June 19, 2014
The Hornets have officially returned to Charlotte and the NBA after a 12 year hiatus from the city. The expansion team in Charlotte was previously known as the Bobcats (2004-2014) for ten seasons, but have re-inherited the Hornets name from New Orleans, who recently became the Pelicans. In addition, the Charlotte franchise reclaimed the history and records of the original Hornets (1988-2002) making it an continuation of the original franchise.
The Charlotte Hornets will be part of the NBA for the 2014-15 season. The team is mostly owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan. The new uniforms of the franchise were recently unveiled to the public and the name “Hornets” will be displayed on both the home and road uniform. The team is obviously proud of the name, considering the original Charlotte franchise never displayed “Hornets” across their uniform. The new uniform colors are white for the home jersey and purple for the road. The team will play their home games at Time Warner Cable Arena and more information on Charlotte Hornets tickets can be found on TicketIQ.
Originally, the Charlotte Hornets franchise were an expansion team that was established in 1988 and were a hot ticket their first season leading the NBA in attendance at the time, a feat they would accomplish seven times in Charlotte. They sold out 364 consecutive games which is almost nine consecutive seasons.
Many big name players were a part of the original Hornets. The team drafted Kendall Gill, Larry Johnson, and Alonzo Mourning in a span of three seasons. They became one of the league’s top young big three and finished with a 44-38 record in the 1993-94 season, making the playoffs for the first team in franchise history.
The Johnson-Mourning era would eventually end, but had another star player Glen Rice who helped the team make back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time in franchise history. Overall the original Hornets, made the postseason seven times but failed to even pass the second round and the franchise relocated to New Orleans after the 2001-02 season.
Now after 12 years with a new owner, new uniforms the Hornets are back where they belong and look to have more success than some of the more popular Hornets teams from the 90’s and early 2000’s.
