The New Orleans Hornets are a professional basketball team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They play in the Southwest Division of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team played their first game in the 1988-89 season. The team was established in 1988 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The team is owned by George Shinn and Gray Chouest and Byron Scott is the head coach.

In 1988-89 season the team was led by ex-Pistons guard Kelly Tripucka, who provided instant offense to the team. Tripucka was Hornets top scorer for the franchise's first two seasons. The team also had sharpshooting rookie - and first-ever draft choice - Rex Chapman, who was a long-distance scoring threat. The team's floor general was Muggsy Bogues, the shortest player in NBA history. However, as is typical for most NBA expansion teams, the Hornets struggled, finishing with a 20-62 record--never winning more than two games in a row.

In 1992-93 season, the team won the second pick in the draft, using it to select Georgetown center Alonzo Mourning. It was good enough for the team's first-ever winning record, at 44-38, and the first playoff berth in franchise history. They finished fifth in the Eastern Conference and upset the Boston Celtics in the first round. The next few years were marked by injuries to Johnson and Mourning, though they did get back to the playoffs in 1994-95, clinching the first 50-win season in franchise history--only to be beaten by the Chicago Bulls.

1997-98 season was also successful. The team picked up a new free-agent point guard David Wesley and shooting guard Bobby Phills. With the likes of Wesley, Phills, Rice, Mason and Divac, the Hornets gushed through the regular season, with Rice finishing sixth in scoring and earning all-NBA third team honors and the team making it all the way to the second round of the playoffs for the second time in franchise history, again being stopped by the Bulls.

The hornets debuted for the first time in New Orleans on October 30, 2002 against the Utah Jazz and won with a 100-75 win record. The team qualified for the playoffs for the forth consecutive year in 2002-03 season but went down to the Philadelphia 76ers once again.

The New Orleans Arena is the place where the Hornets play all their home games. It has a maximum capacity of 17,188. Robert parish one of the few players of the New Orleans Hornets who found his name in the Hall of Famers.

In the 2007-08 season the Hornets were seeded at the 1st position in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference. The team won 56 games at the end of the regular season.

Major achievements

1 Division title (2008)