The original Charlotte Hornets of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA) were established in 1988 as an expansion team, based in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

. The team's roster was filled with

unprotected ''Unprotected'' is a 1916 American drama silent film directed by James Young, written by James Hatton, and starring Blanche Sweet, Theodore Roberts, Ernest Joy, Tom Forman, Walter Long and Mrs. Lewis McCord. It was released on November 6, 1916 ...

players at the 1988 NBA Expansion Draft, and five days later the Hornets made their first picks out of college players at the

1988 NBA draft The 1988 NBA draft took place on June 28, 1988, in New York City, New York. The length was reduced from seven rounds in the previous year to three rounds. This was also the first draft for the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat, prior to their i ...

. The Hornets remained in Charlotte for 14 seasons before relocating to

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

in 2002. Two years after the Hornets' departure, the

Charlotte Bobcats Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populou ...

were established in 2004. The Bobcats first participated in the

2004 NBA draft The 2004 NBA draft was held on June 24, 2004, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and was broadcast live on ESPN at 7:00 pm ( EDT). In this draft, National Basketball Association teams took turns selecting amateur colle ...

, two days after their

expansion draft An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or franchises. This occurs mainly in North American sports. One of the ways of stocking the new team or teams is an expansio ...

was held. The franchise's name was changed back to the Hornets at the conclusion of the 2013–14 season, one year after the team in Louisiana renamed itself the New Orleans Pelicans. The history and records of the original Charlotte Hornets were conveyed to the newly named Charlotte Hornets. In 1989, the NBA agreed with the

National Basketball Players Association The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) is a labor union that represents National Basketball Association (NBA) players. It was founded in 1954, making it the oldest trade union of the four major professional sports leagues in the Unit ...

to reduce drafts to two rounds, an arrangement that has remained the same up the present time. Before each draft, an NBA draft lottery determines the first round selection order for the teams that missed the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...

during the prior season. Teams can also trade their picks, which means that in some drafts, teams may have more or less than two draft picks, although they must have at least one first-round pick every other year. The first pick in the Hornets' history was

Rex Chapman Rex Everett Chapman (born October 5, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player and social media influencer. Chapman was a high school phenom in Kentucky, winning numerous awards for his play. In two seasons at the University of ...

, a shooting guard from the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...

. The Hornets had three top-four picks and all of them have participated in the

NBA All-Star Game The National Basketball Association All-Star Game is a basketball exhibition game hosted every February by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and showcases 24 of the league's star players. It is the featured event of NBA All-Star Weekend, ...

: Larry Johnson, Alonzo Mourning, and

Baron Davis Baron Walter Louis Davis (born April 13, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player who is a studio analyst for the '' NBA on TNT''. He was a two-time NBA All-Star, made the All-NBA Third Team in 2004, and twice led the NBA in ...

. In 1996, the Hornets drafted Kobe Bryant 13th overall, but traded him for

Vlade Divac Vlade Divac ( sr-Cyrl, Владе Дивац, ; born February 3, 1968) is a Serbian professional basketball executive and former player who was most recently the vice president of basketball operations and general manager of the Sacramento Kings ...

. Bryant finished his career as an

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

, a four-time All-star game MVP, a two-time Finals MVP, an eleven-time

all-NBA first team The All-NBA Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor bestowed on the best players in the league following every NBA season. The voting is conducted by a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. The team has been sel ...

, and a five-time NBA Champion. The first player picked by the Bobcats,

Emeka Okafor Chukwuemeka Ndubuisi "Emeka" Okafor (born September 28, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player. Okafor attended Bellaire High School in Bellaire, Texas and the University of Connecticut, where in 2004 he won a national champ ...

, was named the 2004–05 Rookie of the Year and voted to the

NBA All-Rookie First Team The NBA All-Rookie Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor given since the 1962–63 NBA season to the top rookies during the regular season. Voting is conducted by the NBA head coaches who are not allowed to vote for player ...

Key

Selections

Notes

References

;General * ;Specific {{Charlotte Hornets NBA draft draft history