Hornets to hire Jeff Peterson as new president of basketball operations
Nearly three weeks after it was reported that Charlotte Hornets president of basketball operations Mitch Kupchak was moving to an advisory role, they have found his replacement: Nets executive Jeff Harrison. ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski was first to report the news Thursday.
According to Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer, the Hornets have had interest in Peterson, 35, since last summer. He will now the first full-time president of the organization under new majority owners Gabe Plotkin and Rich Schnall, who finalized their purchase of the organization last August.
At the time of this publishing, Peterson’s hire has not been made official by the organization.
According to Wojnarowski, Peterson has working relationships with Schnall and Hornets head coach Steve Clifford, who worked with him as a consultant during the 2021-22 season.
Last year, Peterson was dubbed as one of NBA’s top-40 under 40 (per The Athletic). He joined the Nets in 2019 and interviewed for the Pistons general manager job in 2020, one that eventually went to current Detroit general manager Troy Weaver.
“There are people who can have honest conversations, peer-to-peer — I could have a conversation with the GM, players can talk to players, coaches talk to coaches. Jeff is a rare breed that can talk across platforms,” Nets general manager Sean Marks said about Peterson in 2022, according to The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov. “So he can have a very honest conversation with a player. He’s had that multiple times. Get the message across, he’s not afraid.
“He’ll have the same conversations with coaches. He’ll have the same conversation with the front office. He’ll have the same conversation with our ownership group. So when you’re able to like be true to who you are across all of that and not be afraid. That’s a talent … It doesn’t matter who has a great idea, whether it’s a draft pick, a free agent, or whatever or trade and Jeff is somebody who’s a great listener.
“I think that certainly helps you know, if you have a leader that listens to people, and I think that he does that really well. I think that that’s why his peers look up to him.”
The Hornets are projected to have $55.2 million in cap space next offseason season and $91.8 million in 2025-26, according to Spotrac. They’ve hit on recent draft picks in Mark Williams and Brandon Miller and will have LaMelo Ball’s max extension kicking in next season. This is a franchise that hasn’t had much success since Kemba Walker’s departure ahead of 2019-20 and are currently the third-worst team in the East at 15-43.
It will likely take at least two offseason to make this team a contender through drafts and free agency, so it remains to be seen if Peterson is a good hire or not to lead this rebuild–which will be a steep uphill climb.
Do you think this is a good hire? Let us know in the comments!
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