A Bit of New Orleans Hornets History: The Charlotte Hornets joined the NBA in time for the 1988-89 season, as the league added four new teams in a two-year stretch. The club suffered through the usual expansion-team doldrums for a few years but then built a solid roster thanks to productive draft picks. Within a relatively short period the Hornets assembled a star-quality nucleus of forward Larry Johnson and center Alonzo Mourning, who led the team to the playoffs in only its fifth year. By the 1996-97 season both Johnson and Mourning had been traded, but Charlotte still looked to be a team on the way up, and the Hornets responded by winning 54 games in 1996-97 and 51 this past season. (source: NBA.com)