CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – On Monday, the Charlotte Hornets announced Mitch Kupchak was stepping down as General Manager.
Despite the team’s spin, sources tell me this was not entirely his decision. His tenure with the club wasn’t all that great and that is what likely led to his demise. Here’s a look back on the Kupchak era.
There was a lot of excitement when Mitch Kupchak joined the Hornets in 2018. Granted he wasn’t the guy that built the Lakers dynasty, but he was someone who did help sustain it by winning four more NBA championships in his 17 years there as Lakers GM. The fact he was also a Tar Heel — like then-owner Michael Jordan — was the cherry on top.
Hornets GM Kupchak out after dismal 11-41 start; search for replacement begins
“I look forward to being back in North Carolina,” he said at his introductory press conference in April of that year. “Hopefully we can create an environment where we win games but hopefully win playoff games (too).”
Unfortunately for both him and the organization, those aspirations never came to fruition.
During his five and half years in charge, Charlotte went 176-259. Making matters even worse, there was only one winning season in his tenure while the team never actually made the playoffs, much less win a postseason game.
“You know I think we all felt we would be better than we are today,” Kupchak said last week over a video Zoom call.
There were a lot of reasons for the Hornets’ struggles and to be fair some were beyond Kupchak’s control. When Charlotte drafted LaMelo Ball in 2020, there was no way to know he’d be bitten hard by the injury bug.
There was also no way of knowing the legal problems Miles Bridges would find himself in on the heels of his breakout 2022 season.
Kupchak did make mistakes. There were bad draft picks and questionable contracts. Ever since a change in ownership last year, there had been rumors his job was on the line.
“You are what your record says you are, right?” he admitted on last week’s call, with co-owner Gabe Plotkin curiously on the line as well.
Ultimately, despite the team’s trade deadline success last week, that was likely the reason for his departure. As he put it, change needed to happen.
“To just sit and do nothing, we didn’t feel was the prudent thing to do.”
Ironically, the Hornets new management felt the same way in regards to him.