After relieving Rich Cho of his duties as the general manager, the Charlotte Hornets have settled on a decision. While the Hornets reportedly did their due diligence to reach out to a few candidates, it’s been clear from the beginning who they wanted to bring in to their organization. Former Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak has accepted the position of general manager of the Charlotte Hornets.
Following comes from Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
Mitch Kupchak has agreed to a deal to become President and General Manager of the Charlotte Hornets, league sources told ESPN. The Hornets will hold a news conference early this week to introduce Kupchak.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 8, 2018
It appears that team owner Michael Jordan is turning the Charlotte Hornets front office into a UNC Tar Heels reunion. Jordan famously played with UNC during his college days, his college roommate Buzz Peterson is being named the assistant general manager and Kupchak, like Jordan, played college basketball for the Tar Heels. Mitch Kupchak was an All-American and named Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year in 1976, eight years before Jordan was also given the same award.
With Kupchak as the new general manager, it will be interesting to see which direction the Hornets will head going forward. They reportedly were looking at trade options for All-Star guard Kemba Walker, potentially packaging him with other large contracts to give them some salary cap relief. Will Kupchak keep Walker, and head coach Steve Clifford, going forward? We know Kupchak is not afraid to make the big moves, but will he make the right moves?
Kupchak’s tenure in the NBA as the general manager ended under amid some murky decisions before he was fired in February of 2017. Many will remember what he did recently for the Lakers over the final few years with the team. He brought in Dwight Howard and Steve Nash, which turned into a disaster for the franchise. He also made a final effort to help bring the Lakers back to the playoffs by signing Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng to huge contracts in the summer of 2016 and apparently wanted to trade for DeMarcus Cousins to save his job. Kupchak also signed two aging stars in Karl Malone and Gary Payton to start his career with the Lakers in 2003 which saw that season end with a run to the NBA Finals before losing to Detroit Pistons in five games.
Mitch Kupchak was also was the GM who made some big moves over his tenure with LA. He traded Shaquille O’Neal and brought in Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, Ron Artest and Trevor Ariza who all were instrumental to the Lakers brief return to the NBA championship picture from 2008 to 2010.
