The Charlotte Hornets are set up well moving forward. With LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and Mark Williams in place, their future looks bright.
What’s even better is that the Hornets brought in a new head coach for next year—Charles Lee. One of the top assistants over the past few years, Lee emerged as a top-tier head coaching candidate, and the Hornets capitalized.
Now, Lee and his new coaching staff will hope to lead the Hornets back to the playoffs—a place they haven’t been since Kemba Walker was leading the charge in Buzz City.
However, while the Hornets are in a good place now, they weren’t for the past couple of seasons, and a recent Cleveland Cavaliers rumor shed light on just how bad of a decision Charlotte once made.
Cavaliers potentially hiring James Borrego sheds light on Hornets mistake of firing him in the first place
According to long-time NBA insider Marc Stein of The Stein Line, the Cavaliers are still expected to make James Borrego, the former head coach of the Hornets, their new head coach.
"This spring's coaching carousel has been full of twists, turns and curveballs, so declarations of any sort have been tricky lately, but as of publication time this afternoon most league insiders consulted are still projecting the Lakers to hire JJ Redick and the Cavaliers to hire James Borrego."Marc Stein, The Stein Line
The Cavaliers parted ways with JB Bickerstaff after they were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by the Boston Celtics, and now, Borrego seems poised to take the position. The Detroit Pistons are also supposedly in the mix for Borrego.
When the Hornets fired Borrego in the summer of 2022, he had just led them to their first winning season in six years. They had lost in the Play-In Tournament two years in a row, but they were making progress.
But instead of sticking with Borrego, Charlotte ditched him and decided to go in a different direction. Kenny Atkinson backing out of the job wasn’t their fault, and they had to go back to Steve Clifford, but was Borrego really the problem?
In the two years since Borrego left, though injuries have played a part, the Hornets haven’t even sniffed the Play-In, nor have they come close to a .500 record.
Now, a legitimate playoff team is ready to trust Borrego to lead their franchise, and the Los Angeles Lakers were considering him as a head coaching option, too.
Charlotte is in a great spot now with Lee, but firing Borrego in the first place was a major blunder.