Jeff Peterson’s meteoric rise up the ladder of NBA front offices has reached the top rung.
In a fast-moving search, the Charlotte Hornets’ new ownership has hired their new head of basketball operations: Jeff Peterson, the 35-year-old right-hand man of Sean Marks in Brooklyn, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
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 replaces Mitch Kupchak, who stepped aside a few weeks ago. An overhaul of the front office (and likely coaching staff next) was expected after Michael Jordan sold his majority stake in the Hornets to Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall, and the duo reportedly spoke with a dozen candidates about the job.
Peterson has a connection to Schnall — Peterson was an assistant GM with the Hawks when Schnall was a minority owner with that franchise.
Peterson has a lot of work to do with a franchise that is 15-34 this season and hasn’t made the playoffs since 2016 (the Hornets did reach the play-in in 2021 and 2022 but never advanced past that). There is a clear building block with impressive rookie Brandon Miller, the No. 2 pick in last June’s draft, plus they will have a high draft pick in this coming draft as well (it’s technically owed to San Antonio but is lottery protected).
There are a lot of other questions to answer and steps to take. It needs to start with what kind, what style of team the Hornets want to be and hiring a coach who can deliver that. They need to improve their player development program. Then there are the player questions:m Is LaMelo Ball one of the future cornerstones? He has played at an All-Star level when healthy but has missed significant time in three of his four seasons. Peterson can gauge the trade market for him, but Ball has a max contract extension that kicks in next season. Should the Hornets bring Miles Bridges back, and if so, at what salary?
This is not a short-term project, but the Hornets are betting on Peterson being a long-term answer for them as the head of the front office.
