Charlotte Hornets Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Jeff Peterson announced today the team has hired Charles Lee as head coach. Lee, a 2002 graduate of Quince Orchard High School, grew up in Gaithersburg and was a student-athlete at Quince Orchard before moving on to Bucknell, where he attended school and played until 2006.
Lee brings 10 years of experience as an NBA assistant coach and will join the Hornets after concluding the NBA Playoffs with the Boston Celtics, where he has spent the 2023-24 season as the team’s top assistant. “We are excited to welcome Charles Lee as the head coach of Charlotte Hornets,” said Peterson.
“His high character and his ability to connect with players while also instilling a culture of accountability will serve us well as we construct a competitive team built for long-term success. Charles possesses a championship pedigree with a wide range of basketball knowledge and NBA experience, has a tremendous work ethic and is a great communicator. He shares our vision for this organization, and I look forward to partnering with him in building something special here in the Carolinas. I can’t wait for our Hornets community to meet Charles, his wife Lindsey and his beautiful daughters, and feel Charles’ passion for the game and the intensity of his desire to win.”
Prior to his time in Boston, Lee served five seasons (2018-2023) as an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks, ascending to associate head coach and helping guide the team to the 2020-21 NBA championship. He started his NBA career as an assistant coach for four seasons (2014-2018) with the Atlanta Hawks. Throughout his 10 NBA seasons, Lee’s teams have accumulated a 510-291 (.637) regular-season record, reached the playoffs nine times, captured seven division titles and earned five Eastern Conference No. 1 seeds. In four of the last six seasons, his teams have finished the regular season with the best record in the NBA.
“The opportunity to be the head coach of the Charlotte Hornets is a dream come true,” said Lee. “I want to thank Rick Schnall, Gabe Plotkin and Jeff Peterson for the trust they are placing in me to lead this team. The Hornets have a talented young core of players and I’m excited about our future and what we can build here. There are few places as passionate about basketball as the Carolinas, and I look forward to coming to Charlotte and getting to work.”
During Lee’s 2023-24 campaign with Boston, the Celtics finished with the NBA’s top record (64-18). Boston’s 64 wins marked the fourth-most in a season in franchise history. With Lee’s assistance, the Celtics led the NBA in offensive rating and net rating while finishing third in defensive rating.
While in Milwaukee, despite two COVID-shortened regular seasons, the Bucks averaged 54.2 wins over the course of Lee’s five years with the team, including a 60-win campaign in 2018-19, tying for the third-most victories in a season in franchise history.
While with Atlanta, Lee helped engineer a Hawks defense that finished in the top six in defensive rating three straight seasons. In Lee’s first year with the team (2014-15), Atlanta won a franchise-record 60 games and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Lee began his coaching career at his alma mater, Bucknell University, where he was an assistant for two seasons (2012-2014). He played four seasons (2002-2006) with the Bison, leading the team to two Patriot League titles and the only two NCAA Tournament victories in school history, including a win over No. 3 Kansas as a No. 14 seed in 2005. A 2017 inductee into the Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame, Lee was the 2005-06 Patriot League Player of the Year, a three-time All-Patriot League selection and the first player in conference history to win back-to-back Patriot League Tournament MVP awards. Lee logged four professional seasons overseas with stops in Israel, Belgium and Germany.
A native of the Washington, D.C., area, Lee and his wife, Lindsey, have three daughters, Corinne, Vivian and Josephine.
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