CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Charlotte Hornets have fired head coach James Borrego, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the situation.
The Hornets later publicly confirmed the news.
Borrego was 138-163 in four seasons with the Hornets and led them to the NBA’s play-in tournament the past two years as the No. 10 seed. They were blown out in both play-in games, however, and never made the playoffs in Borrego’s four seasons.
The team has not already filled the position and will conduct a search for a new coach, a source said.
“I want to thank JB for his hard work and commitment during these past four seasons,” Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak said. “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. We will begin the search for our new head coach immediately.”
Borrego’s firing was a bit of a surprise. Borrego, 44, signed a multi-year contract extension with the Hornets last offseason and the team finished this past season 43-39, which was Charlotte’s first winning record since 2016.
Borrego had two years remaining on his contract from the multi-year extension he signed. He will be paid the remaining two years.
During the team’s final press conference last week, Borrego sounded like a coach who knew he was on the hot seat. Though he said there were areas they needed to be better in, he pointed to the strides his team had made over the past three years.
“You don’t win 10-plus games each year without growing and facing certain areas,” Borrego said. “That doesn’t just happen overnight. We’re one of three franchises over the last three years to go plus 10, plus 10. The other two teams are the Phoenix Suns and the Golden State Warriors.
“The only other team, other than those two that went plus 10, plus 10 are Charlotte Hornets.”
Borrego was hired to coach the Hornets before the 2018-19 season, replacing former coach Steve Clifford. He became the NBA’s first Latino head coach in its 72-year history.
Before the Hornets, Borrego had spent time as a longtime assistant under San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, where he won championships in 2005 and 2007.
In his first season as the Hornets head coach, Charlotte went 39-43. Charlotte went 23-42 in a pandemic-shortened season in 2019-20, but improved by 10 wins in each of the next two seasons. They drafted point guard LaMelo Ball in 2020. Ball made his first NBA All-Star game in his second season in 2021.
“There’s been tremendous growth here, tremendous progress,” Borrego said. “For us to even be in that category with Phoenix and Golden State, it’s just tremendous for our organization. We’re on stable ground, now it’s just about taking that next step. Don’t get caught up in the noise. We’ll stay the course, get better and I’ll do that. I’ll reflect on myself, on the team, and we’ll come back a better team.”
After losing in the 2021 play-in game to Indiana, 144-117, and with Ball returning for his second season, the Hornets were expected to be a much better team in 2022. They started out fast with a 5-2 record, but were often inconsistent. They fell to three games below .500 with 15 games left in the season before going on a winning streak.
They finished 43-39, which was good enough for the play-in game. However, they were blown out by the Atlanta Hawks, 132-103, on April 13.
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The Charlotte Observer’s Rod Boone and Scott Fowler contributed to this story.
