CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The season-long celebration of the 35th anniversary of the Charlotte Hornets began Wednesday night in Uptown Charlotte.
The team, which began its first season in 1988, took the court 35 years later against the Atlanta Hawks. The Hornets defeated the Hawks 116-110 behind 25 points from forward P.J. Washington.
Fans are set to swarm Uptown this season as the team hopes to improve after last season, especially as a new ownership reign begins.
Longtime owner and NBA legend Michael Jordan sold his majority ownership of the team earlier this year. Jordan is still a minority owner.
Hornets super fan Evan Kent said he is hopeful, yet realistic, about how the team will perform this season. He said he hopes it can be in contention for the NBA play-in tournament at the end of the year or make the playoffs as a low seed outright.
“This [season] probably isn’t it, but in the next two years, you should be on the upswing,” Kent said.
It’s been a hope he’s had since he was a small child.
“I’m born and raised here in Charlotte,” Kent said. “It’s one of those things I grew up on, going to the old coliseum off of Tyvola. Those were some of my earliest, fondest memories going with my family.”
Kent and his older brother went to games with family around Thanksgiving and their birthdays. The early exposure to the team created two lifelong super fans.
“We do everything from home watch parties, the tailgates for every single home game. We do away watch parties throughout the season for big matchups,” Kent said, detailing the activities of his and his brother’s Hornets fan club, The Crown Club.
The club, which has about 500 members, started in 2021 after the two brothers led a successful, grassroots campaign to return the Hornets name in the early 2010s. As the team celebrates 35 years, Kent still remembers going to games at the old Charlotte Coliseum.
“At that time, before [Interstate] 485 was completed, it was much more of a journey across town for us to go to a Hornets game. As a kid, you’d fall asleep in the car, usually you’d wake up and there it was. The old Charlotte Coliseum, it felt like a carnival,” Kent recalled.
He said the old atmosphere at the coliseum is similar to what fans experience at Charlotte FC games now. And while the Hornets’ on-court success has been limited, the team briefly left and the name has changed a few times, Kent said it still is what started making Charlotte a sports town.
“I think it’s legacy is kind of ... this is the thing that put Charlotte on the map. We wouldn’t have the Panthers if it wasn’t for this. You know, you wouldn’t have Charlotte FC if it wasn’t for the Hornets,” Kent said. “The only way people knew where Charlotte was on a map or knew what Charlotte was — they’d be like, ‘Oh, I had that Starter jacket.’ Or, ‘I know the Charlotte Hornets.'”
The Hornets will celebrate their 35th anniversary season with special logos, jerseys and fan events.