At 12:30 PM EST today, the Bobcats of Charlotte breathed their last breath as an NBA nickname. From that point on, the name and logos that were unveiled back in the winter became official: The Charlotte Bobcats are now the Charlotte Hornets.
The official unveiling brought along some interesting news: Thanks to an agreement with the New Orleans Pelicans, the team histories were switched around as well. The original Charlotte Hornets who were in the NBA from 1988 to 2002 are now a part of the Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets history. The new Hornets absorbing the old Hornets history means that the history of the New Orleans Hornets is now completely separate to New Orleans and their current club, the Pelicans.
For instance, this means that everything that players such as Muggsy Bogues, Alonzo Mourning, and Larry “Grandmama” Johnson did for the old Charlotte Hornets are now part of the same history that includes the franchise’s relatively brief time as the Bobcats and whatever happens in the future of the new Hornets. Basically, whatever happened in Charlotte stayed in Charlotte and whatever happened in New Orleans stayed in New Orleans. Got it? Good.
In addition to the new name and logo becoming the official identity of the Charlotte NBA franchise, a few dates were announced as well:
As expected, the team has already begun to put their new look on their arena, as evidenced by their Instagram post, which shows how they utilized the simple teritary logo as well.
Obviously, this is some pretty huge news as the new Hornets are not only officially in the league, but they’ve also acquired the history of Charlotte basketball as well, in a move that may be a model for the potential return of the Seattle SuperSonics, if and/or when that happens. This also means that we could finally see the old Charlotte Hornets uniforms come back into the limelight for a throwback night or two in the future. All things considered, this is some nice news for fans of Charlotte basketball and the Hornets brand in general.
What are your thoughts on the matter? Are you glad that each city’s basketball history is now exclusively in each city? Glad that the Bobcats are back? As always. feel free to let us know exactly how you feel!
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