The Charlotte Hornets have found their new coach, hiring Boston Celtics assistant Charles Lee, the team announced Thursday.
Lee has been an NBA assistant coach for the past 10 years and joined the Celtics’ coaching staff for this season. Before that, he was an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks (2018-23) and Atlanta Hawks (2014-18), serving with former Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer in both Milwaukee and Atlanta. He has no previous experience leading his own team and, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Lee’s deal is for four years.
The Hornets said Lee will be introduced at a news conference after the Celtics playoff run.
“We are excited to welcome Charles Lee as the head coach of Charlotte Hornets,” Hornets executive vice president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson said in a statement. “His high character and his ability to connect with players while also instilling a culture of accountability will serve us well as we construct a competitive team built for long-term success.
“Charles possesses a championship pedigree with a wide range of basketball knowledge and NBA experience, has a tremendous work ethic and is a great communicator. He shares our vision for this organization, and I look forward to partnering with him in building something special here in the Carolinas.”
In four of the last six seasons, teams Lee was a part of have finished with the best record in the NBA.
“The opportunity to be the head coach of the Charlotte Hornets is a dream come true,” Lee said in a statement. “The Hornets have a talented young core of players and I’m excited about our future and what we can build here. There are few places as passionate about basketball as the Carolinas, and I look forward to coming to Charlotte and getting to work.”
Hornets’ outlook: Charlotte has been looking for a new coach since early April when Steve Clifford announced 2023-24 would be his final season. He left the Hornets as the winningest coach in franchise history, coaching a team-record 577 games and amassing 244 wins. He expects to remain with the franchise as an advisor as the team looks to improve upon its recent difficulties.
In Charlotte, Lee will inherit a team that hasn’t won a playoff series in 22 years, a stretch that included more than a decade with NBA great Michael Jordan as the owner. Jordan sold the Hornets to Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin last year. The co-owners have been busy since, replacing general manager Mitch Kupchak — who also stepped down — with Peterson.
The Hornets were 21-61 in 2023-24 and were 27-55 the season before that and have not finished above .500 since the 2015-16 season (which was also Charlotte’s last playoff appearance). The Hornets were without star guard LaMelo Ball for most of last season as ankle issues limited him to 22 games. He has played in just 58 games over the last two seasons and said at season’s end he is contemplating wearing ankle braces to prevent further injury in the future.
The Hornets believe if they can keep Ball on the court and pair him with three-time NBA Rookie of the Month Brandon Miller they can turn things around.
“He makes our team go,” Hornets center Nick Richards said. “It’s really important for us to have him on the court.”
Ball wasn’t the only injury for the Hornets as starting center Mark Williams and guard Cody Martin were others who missed significant time. Last season, Charlotte traded Gordon Hayward to Oklahoma City, Terry Rozier to Miami and P.J. Washington to Dallas before the deadline in moves that brought Tre Mann, Vasa Micic, Grant Williams, Seth Curry and Davis Bertans to town.
Charlotte never found its footing in 2023-24, amassing two separate losing streaks of at least 10 games as it never won more than four games in a row. They allowed 4.5 more points per 100 possessions than they did in 2022-23, which was the second-biggest jump in the NBA.
Ball, Miller and Williams played 153 minutes (over 12 games) together this season. Charlotte should feel good about taking Miller (21.8 points per game on an effective field goal percentage of 58% over the season’s final two weeks) with the second pick last year. If Ball can get healthy and a little more serious, they have two talented, 6-foot-7 perimeter players under 23.
The NBA Draft Lottery is Sunday and the Hornets have a 13.3% chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick.
Information from NBA.com’s John Schuhmann and The Associated Press were used in this report.
