Charlotte Hornets announce Charles Lee as new coach

Charles Lee is finally getting his chance.

The current Boston Celtics head assistant and someone who has been near the forefront of the best assistant coaches who deserve a chance has been hired as the new head coach of the Charlotte Hornets, the team announced.

Lee will continue his duties with the Celtics through the playoffs — which could very well extend into June — before taking over at Charlotte. He received a four-year contract, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Lee takes over for veteran head coach Steve Clifford and is the first major change for new general manager Jeff Peterson as he begins to reshape the franchise.

Lee has been an NBA assistant for more than 10 years, most of it under Mike Budenholzer, first in Atlanta and then in Milwaukee, where Lee was part of the 2021 NBA Championship team. When Budenholzer was fired from the Bucks in the summer Last year, the Celtics hired Lee as Joe Mazzulla’s top assistant in Boston. Lee has interviewed for several NBA head coaching positions, including with the Hornets in 2021 (when the team was under different ownership and had a different front office).

Lee will be focused on player development for starters, the Hornets are a rebuilding team that went 21-61 last season and haven’t made the playoffs since 2016. There’s talent on the roster: LaMelo Ball is a dynamic point guard when he can stay healthy , and Brandon Miller impressed as a rookie and finished third in Rookie of the Year voting. This is also a future-focused team that traded veterans this season — Terry Rozier and P.J. Washington — to focus more on that future.

That future is now in Lee’s hands.