It is a new day in the front office.
The Charlotte Hornets are close to hiring Brooklyn Nets assistant general manager Jeff Peterson to be the team’s next head of basketball operations, and both sides expect to reach a contractual agreement soon, according to ESPN’s Senior NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski.
Peterson will take over for General Manager Mitch Kupchak, who is stepping to an advisory role with the franchise.
It is a new era in the ‘Queen City’ with governors Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin now in control of the team after their group purchased a majority stake in the franchise from Michael Jordan for an approximate $3 billion valuation in August 2023.
Now the 35-year-old Peterson, who is expected to reach a contractual agreement with the Hornets “soon,” will lead the Hornets.
As for why Peterson got the job, Wojnarowski explained:
“Charlotte’s ownership is convinced of Peterson’s ability to be a long-term leader for the organization and deliver it the kind of player personnel acumen, relationships and deal-making ability with rival executives, player agents and players necessary to transform the Hornets into a formidable franchise.”
Peterson has held the position of the Nets’ assistant GM since 2019, under Sean Marks. He also worked in the Atlanta Hawks organization from 2013-2019, climbing the ladder from basketball operations coordinator to director of scouting to assistant GM.
He also played college basketball for the Iowa Hawkeyes, Arkansas Razorbacks and Florida State Seminoles from 2007-2012, averaging 6.0 PPG and 2.8 APG.
Now he is tasked with rebuilding a Hornets team that has not made the playoffs since the height of the Kemba Walker era in 2015-16. Charlotte does have talent to build around, led by an injury prone LaMelo Ball and No. 2 pick in the draft Brandon Miller, but with a subpar record at 15-43, much work still needs to be done for this team to be competitive. That will be Peterson’s job now to get that done, but signs point to him being a well-qualified candidate capable
of completing that mission.
