Charlotte Hornets: All Star Game Moving Out
The Charlotte Hornets will not be the host of the 2017 NBA All Star Game after all.
To no surprise the Charlotte Hornets have lost the NBA All Star game according to reports from Adrian Wojnarowski of the Vertical.
With no real movement to change HB2, the NBA could not wait until November or even January to move the game with preparations that have to be made. To add insult to injury it appears that New Orleans will be the alternate site the game will go to.
While I don’t disagree that the NBA’s terms would never be met and the game would have to move, I do wonder if the additional gut punch of sending it to New Orleans was intentional. After all New Orleans is where the Hornets ran away to back in 2002. Orlando was getting serious consideration before the announcement was made and there was a Vegas push as well.
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So the Hornets have been trying to change the perception of basketball in the Queen City. They dropped the name Bobcats, built a playoff capable roster, and had won the 2017 All Star Game. Getting the All Star Game was not just a matter of asking for it, the Hornets had the City of Charlotte commit millions in upgrades to Time Warner Arena to make that happen.
I’m sure those updates were fantastic, but they just became a little more meaningless now. A key step to bringing the NBA truly back to Charlotte was lost. The Hornets will have to do the heavy lifting themselves by supplying playoff teams.
This suggests that North Carolina HB2 will continue to be a yoke around the neck of the state and future sporting events may be affected as well. Do not forget that the state regularly hosts NCAA Tournament games and has the ACC Football Championship as well. Albany and the NBA All Star Game may only be the first things to go.