The Charlotte Hornets haven’t really had any kind of success of note as a franchise, even going back to the days when they were the Bobcats. They have shown remarkable consistency in being below average, for the most part, and haven’t won a single playoff series since they returned to the league in 2004.
Fans hardly have had anything to celebrate over the years thanks to it, and the organization deserves all the criticism in the world for the terrible job they have done over the years. Everything about the Hornets just screams incompetence, as their drafting has been terrible over the years, and they don’t do a good job of developing players or signing good ones in free agency.
Charlotte Hornets Might Have Had The Worst Offseason Ever In NBA History
This past season provided a glimmer of hope that things might change, but what followed has been the stuff of nightmares. Second-year player James Bouknight was arrested and charged yesterday with DUI, and while that in itself would be a troubling development for any team, it is just the latest disaster in a long list of them for the Hornets this offseason.
A fan of the team on Reddit with the username u/HornetsAreBad, pointed out just how catastrophic it has been, and he made the argument it is the worst offseason in NBA history. You would be hard-pressed to find one worse than this, as it is truly horrifying. The first sign that things were about to go wrong for the Hornets came when Montrezl Harrell had drug trafficking charges placed on him, but they were eventually dropped, and he ended up signing with the Sixers later in free agency.
Going back to the start of the offseason, the Hornets had seemingly hired Kenny Atkinson as their new head coach, only for him to back out later. They then had to scramble for a new man for the job and ended up hiring Steve Clifford, who they had fired back in 2018. Then just a few days later, Miles Bridges was arrested for felony domestic violence, and there is still no clarity on what the future holds for him. His hearing was delayed for the 7th time recently, and we are waiting to see what the future holds for him.
“A preliminary hearing in Miles Bridges’ felony domestic violence case in Los Angeles was delayed for the seventh time Monday and moved to Nov. 3.
Bridges, the Hornets’ leading scorer last year, was arrested on June 29 in Los Angeles and charged with beating up his girlfriend in front of their two children. Police described the incident as “Intimate Partner Violence with Injury.”
He pleaded not guilty on July 20 to three felony charges: injuring a child’s parent; and two counts of child abuse under circumstances or conditions likely to cause great bodily injury or death. If convicted of all three counts, Bridges faces up to almost 12 years in prison.
The case has remained immobile ever since, further clouding the player’s status with the team for the coming season, which starts Wednesday.”
To go with this ugly situation, they also had a terrible draft where they traded away Jalen Duren while not getting a whole lot in return. The start of the preseason was supposed to provide a distraction from all this misery, but things went wrong there as well.
The Hornets lost all of their games and, in the process, also lost LaMelo Ball to an injury. He suffered a sprain on his left ankle against the Wizards on the 10th of October, and while it isn’t serious, Ball is expected to miss the season opener at the very least. It has been a terrible time for this franchise, and you do wonder if there will ever come a time when the Hornets are actually any good.
