Hornets Hardball

The Bugs are back!

[Hornets Hardball @HornetsHardball]

Kurt Angle predicted the Hornets would let us down...

[Hornets Hardball @HornetsHardball]

@RosinskiBill @Panthers @rosinskijane You are still the voice of the Panthers to a lot of fans!

[Hornets Hardball @HornetsHardball]

Hersey Hawkins

[HAWK @HawkEmDownChris]

Age yourself by naming the starting shooting guard for your favorite NBA team when you were 10.

I’ll start: Monta Ellis.

[Hornets Hardball @HornetsHardball]

@HornetsReddit @Tweets_by_Clay It’s a very bad rule.

[rodlo 🪬 @roddystr]

What's the deal with the Eric Collins and Dell Curry stuff? Who do we need to send money to

[Hornets Hardball @HornetsHardball]

@CrownClubCLT Especially when the next game was so embarrassing you traded your top star 🤷‍♂️

[Hornets Hardball @HornetsHardball]

LJ

[Sam Block @theblockspot]

Name 1 athlete who should’ve stayed with 1 team for his or her entire career…

But didn’t.

[LeBron James @KingJames]

I'm not MJ, I'm LJ

[Hornets Hardball @HornetsHardball]

@PanthersCulture Kemba

[Hornets Hardball @HornetsHardball]

@HornetsLead Maybe less confident in the trade lol. Just keep thinking was it smart to trade Melo after a season as the number one offense…

[Hornets Hardball @HornetsHardball]

@macwfnz All will be forgiven if they get Jaylen Brown

[Hornets Hardball @HornetsHardball]

Bob cats?

[Jaylen Brown @FCHWPO]

I love cats

[Barstool Sports @barstoolsports]

“That’s like y’all traded Michael Jordan off the Chicago Bulls”

Hornets fans are DEVASTATED after LaMelo got traded

[Hornets Hardball @HornetsHardball]

Stunning trade. Not sure the Hornets got enough!

[Hornets Historian @HornetsHistory]

June 1st, 2026

Remembering Rick Bonnell’s Legacy

Today my focus is on someone who deserves a spotlight in the halls of Hornets History all to himself.

If there was ever a *real* Hornets Historian, it was Rick Bonnell.

Encyclopedia may even be more fitting.

The Hornets family lost the scribe of their franchise on this day five years ago, and it’s something I don’t ever want the fans to forget about.

Especially as younger fans continue to pile in. Those fans may not see the Rick Bonnell media entrance, the seat on media row the Hornets still keep empty for him, or the scholarship the Hornets give out in his namesake every year.

And for those people… I don’t want Rick’s name to fade. Because for most who knew of his work, and especially for those who knew him, it never will.

He’s not just synonymous with the Charlotte Hornets. Rick lived and breathed this team as a beat writer for the Charlotte Observer from 1988-2021.

After graduating from the prestigious Newhouse School of Journalism at Syracuse, and after advising Jim Boeheim himself about a job offer to move down to N.C.?

Boeheim told Rick he should take it, and Rick did.

Bonnell moved to Raleigh to work for the News and Observer in 1987, where he mainly covered Duke and North Carolina in the 87-88 season.

He then gave up coverage of Duke, UNC, and triangle basketball to go work for the Charlotte Observer and cover the Hornets full-time as they began offseason prep for their inaugural year.

From what I’ve read, Rick liked to remind people he didn’t cover *everything* in Charlotte Hornets history, because he wasn’t there yet in the city when the team was officially confirmed on April 5th, 1987.

But when the team walked out for its first-ever game against Cleveland in 1988, he was there. Not just there at the game, but like many others for that first-game at the Coliseum, Rick was donning a full tuxedo at the contest.

A game where Charlotte lost by 40, I may add.

But that was Rick. He had an enthusiasm for covering this sport that, let me be VERY clear:

Most sports writers do NOT have. Much less after 30+ years.

He was still excited about good basketball, of which he saw very little at points during his tenure. It never stopped him from delivering A+ coverage of the team.

More importantly, the bad spells never diluted his love for basketball. Even in 2011-2012 when the Bobcats went 7-59, which Rick’s Twitter bio reminded us that he, “survived with some grace and sanity.”

He was always fair in his coverage. Even the GOAT recognized this. He is the only beat writer I’ve ever heard of who had Michael Jordan’s phone number, and could USE it if he deemed it necessary to do so.

I miss listening to Rick talk and write about this team a lot. I looked up to him when I was younger, and while I can’t imagine what his family has been through…

The least I can do is honor the part of Rick I did know. That was his coverage of the Hornets. It was his love for this team, good defense, and the hope he always held for Charlotte basketball’s future.

I hope you’re resting in peace amongst all the late Hornets’ legends where you belong, Rick.

[Hornets Hardball @HornetsHardball]

Eww no…

[MLB2NC @MLBRaleigh]

Charlotte and Raleigh have had their differences, but when it really mattered, they've always come together.

In the late 80's when the NBA was looking to expand, the Raleigh leadership was extremely vocal in their support of Charlotte to win the franchise that eventually became the Hornets.

Last week, @andrew_dunn's piece in the @CharlotteObser and the @newsobserver suggested that the Queen City is ready to return the favor with MLB.

Charlotte, Durham, every town and every city in this state, we've put in the work here in Raleigh for the past 8 years, building this bid with a dream of bringing home an MLB team.

We've gone from afterthought to potential front-runner.

Now, we need everyone in North Carolina to join us and do what they said couldn't be done...

Bring #MLB2NC together as one united state!

#RaleighOnDeck #StateOfBaseball

[Hornets Hardball @HornetsHardball]

@sportingnews

[ValidHaitian @haiti4eva]

“Basketball has evolved the stuff everyone doing is more athletic, skilled & more creative, way more exciting”

I see… yeah 30 & 40 years ago guys weren’t doing anything guys are doing 10 yrs ago to today. You are right

But wait, what is this???

[Hornets Hardball @HornetsHardball]

@BaileyCarlin D Von Dudley lol

[Pat McCrory @PatMcCroryNC]

What a great Hornets win tonight....proud that the uptown arena looked great on national tv tonight. Long journey for the Hornets and for our city!

[Brevin Knight @brevinknight22]

Congratulations to the @hornets for making back to the playoffs. I’m so happy for the organization and also the city that has been starving for this!! Great atmosphere!!!