Hornets name Charles Lee as new head coach

According to Jake Fischer and Dan Devine of Yahoo! Sports on Thursday, the Charlotte Hornets have hired Charles Lee of Washington, District of Columbia as their new head coach. Lee has spent the last decade in the National Basketball Association as an assistant coach, and this is his very first NBA head coaching position.

Lee spent four seasons with the Atlanta Hawks as their assistant coach from 2014 to 2018. He was then with the Milwaukee Bucks as an assistant coach for five seasons from 2018 to 2023. Then last season, Lee was with the Boston Celtics.

In his first nine seasons as an assistant coach, Lee worked under the tutelage of NBA head coach Mike Budenholzer of Holbrook, Arizona. When Budenholzer was stunningly fired by the Bucks at the end of the 2022-23 season, Lee took a job with the Celtics. It should be noted that Lee will remain the assistant coach of the Celtics for the remainder of the NBA playoffs. The Celtics lead the Cleveland Cavaliers one game to none after a dominant 120-95 win after the first game of the series.

Lee also brings a NBA championship to the Hornets. He was part of the Bucks’s staff that won the 2021 NBA Finals as the Bucks beat the Phoenix Suns in six games.

In 2024-25, Lee will take over from Steve Clifford of Iron Falls, Maine as the Hornets head coach. Clifford was reassigned within the Hornets organization on April 3, and is remaining on the team in an advisory role. Charlotte had the third worst record in the NBA last season at 21 wins and 61 losses.

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