The Charlotte Hornets fired head coach James Borrego, the team announced Friday.
The move comes after the Hornets were trounced in the play-in tournament for a second straight year, losing to the Atlanta Hawks, 132-103 on April 13. However, Charlotte had also improved by 10 wins in each of the past three seasons under the 44-year-old, going from 23-42 in 2019-20 to 33-39 in 2020-21 to 43-39 this season.
The improvement also came amid a rebuilding period after Kemba Walker left for Boston in free agency in 2019.
“I want to thank JB for his hard work and commitment during these past four seasons,” GM Mitch Kupchak said in a statement. “Beyond his work as a coach, he is a tremendous person. I wish him and his family the best in the future. These decisions are always difficult. Having said that, we have a talented, young core of players which has me very excited about the future of the Hornets.”
Still, the Hornets were 148-183 in four seasons with Borrego at the helm and failed to make the playoffs, twice reaching the Eastern Conference play-in tournament. Last year, the Pacers blew out the Hornets in the play-in, 144-117. Charlotte also had its share of injuries during that time.
In 2020, the Hornets signed Gordon Hayward to a four-year, $120 million deal that was supposed to make them a contender in the East. But Hayward missed 61 games the past two seasons, and he did not play in either of the play-in losses because of injury.
James Borrego was fired after four seasons in Charlotte. EPAWhen the Hornets hired Borrego in 2018, the Mexican-American became the league’s first full-time head coach of Hispanic descent. Previously, he took over as the Magic coach for the final 30 games of the 2014-15 season after they fired Jacque Vaughn midseason. He has also been an assistant for two NBA champion Spurs teams, the Pelicans and Magic.
During his tenure in Charlotte, Borrego helped turn LaMelo Ball into an All-Star and Miles Bridges into a 20 point-per-game scorer. That development, plus the team’s continued improvement, led the Hornets to signing Borrego to a multiyear contract extension in Aug. 2021, which makes the firing a bit surprising.
This season, the Hornets, who have failed to make the playoffs each of the last six years, posted their first winning record since 2016, and they finished one game out of being the seventh seed. According to the Charlotte Observer, the team hasn’t decided who will lead the team next and will conduct a search for its next head coach.
