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Charlotte Bobcats Expected To Announce Hornets Name Today

John Morgan

The Charlotte Bobcats have called a 6 p.m. press conference on Tuesday where they're expected to announce a name change.

Evan Kent couldn't be more thrilled. For several years, he and his brother have built a grassroots effort to re-christen the team the Charlotte Hornets. They've organized "swarms" of hundreds of nostalgic fans who wear their purple and teal Hornets gear at Bobcats games.

"The Hornets were the first thing that put Charlotte on the national scene besides banking," says Kent. "We finally were in the same league as places like Los Angeles. And then the name means so much to the city with the beginning of the revolutionary war, you know, the "Hornet's nest of rebellion." It just really spoke to the attitude of what this city was about."

Kent was 11 years old when the Hornets left Charlotte for New Orleans in 2002 and says diehard Hornets fans like him have never felt a connection to the Bobcats.

The Hornets' decade in Charlotte featured fan favorites Dell Curry and MuggsyBogues. When the New Orleans Hornets last year announced plans to become the New Orleans Pelicans, Bobcats management said they were studying the possibility of bring the Hornets name back to Charlotte.  

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has said the change would take about 18 months. Bobcats owner Michael Jordan is expected to layout the transition timeline at Tuesday's press conference.