Hornets Sack James Borrego For Four Years Failing To Make Playoffs

James Borrego (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Charlotte Hornets have officially sacked head coach James Borrego after he failed to lead the team to the playoffs even once in his four-year tenure.

"Outside of his job as a coach, he's an extraordinary person. I wish him and his family the best for the future," Hornets president of operations & general manager Mitch Kupchak was quoted as saying on the NBA team's official website on Saturday.

"Decisions like this are always difficult. Apart from that, we have a main composition of talented young players who make me so impatient to see the future of the team. We will soon find a new head coach," he added.

Borrego is the 11th head coach who has ever handled the Hornets and started his duties since May 2018. For four seasons Borrego has an overall record of 138-163 wins and losses or a win ratio of 45.8 percent.

This decision comes less than a year after the Hornets extended Borrego's contract with a multi-year duration in August.

Quoted from ANTARA, the Hornets have been out of the playoffs since their last appearance in 2015/16 and haven't won a playoff series since 2001/02.

The last two seasons, Borrego's efforts to deliver the Hornets to the playoffs have always failed in the NBA Eastern Conference play-in tournament phase.

Although the Hornets' record this season is relatively good of 43-39, they only finished 10th in the Eastern final standings and in the first round of the tournament play-in they lost 103-132 to the Atlanta Hawks so they had to close the season early.

The 2020/21 NBA Rookie of the Year, LaMelo Ball, is a major part of the Hornets roster this season alongside forward Miles Bridges.

Ball is averaging 20.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, 7.6 assists and 1.6 steals this season, while Bridges is also averaging 20.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists. .

Bridges is set to enter a limited free contract in July which could see him accept a huge offer from the Hornets, while Ball reportedly turned down a $60 million contract extension last year in hopes of a bigger figure.

The absence of Gordon Hayward since the final third of the season and only one game back before being sidelined again in the play-in tournament clearly affected the performance of the Hornets who lost another chip in their strength.