CHCharlotte Hornets
NBA Champions history, aggregated from our sourced basketball champions list.
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
CHCharlotte Hornets — 0 nba champions.
Franchise history
The original Charlotte Hornets began as a 1988 NBA expansion team under owner George Shinn, quickly becoming one of the league's most popular franchises behind its teal-and-purple branding and a long sellout streak, with stars like Larry Johnson, Alonzo Mourning, and Muggsy Bogues. A stadium funding dispute with the city led Shinn to relocate the franchise to New Orleans in 2002, taking the Hornets name and 1988-2002 history with it (that lineage continues today as the New Orleans Pelicans). Charlotte was awarded a new expansion team, the Bobcats, which began play in 2004 under founding owner Robert L. Johnson; Michael Jordan became majority owner in 2010.
In 2014, in an unusual league ruling, the NBA allowed the Bobcats to rebrand as the Charlotte Hornets and formally transferred the original 1988-2002 Hornets' history and records back to the Charlotte franchise, while the Pelicans retained the 2002-2013 New Orleans-era records. Neither the original Hornets nor the Bobcats/Hornets have ever won an NBA championship or reached the Finals. Jordan sold his majority stake in 2023, and the current Hornets remain in a long rebuilding stretch.
Sourcing caveat: In 2014 the NBA transferred the 1988-2002 Charlotte Hornets' history and records to the current Charlotte franchise (formerly the Bobcats), while the 2002-2013 New Orleans Hornets-era records stayed with the Pelicans; sources vary on whether to describe this as one continuous Hornets franchise with a suspended 2002-2004 gap or as two separate organizations sharing a name and inherited history.
Sources
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