According to reports, the New Orleans Hornets plan to change their name to the New Orleans Pelicans, possibly as soon as the 2013-2014 season.

http://espn.go.com/nba/st...ing-report

Tom Benson, the owner of the New Orleans Saints, bought the team last summer and wanted to change the name to relfect their current status in Louisiana. He not only plans on changing the name but the team colors as well, from their current teal and purple to red, gold, and navy blue.

As a result, this has sparked interest from Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan, who has said he would be interested in buying back the Hornets name and color scheme to reflect the city's NBA history. He also believes this will help attendance in the long run.

Current logo

Fan-created proposed logo

Should've made that choice years ago. There were only one Hornets them: the Charlotte Hornets and they took that away. Now Charlotte got Bobcats...ugh lol

Do an NBA round-robin and have the Hornets buy the Jazz name from Utah after selling the Hornets name to Charlotte.

Utah Jazz

The Lakers have to change their name too.

sexton said:

Do an NBA round-robin and have the Hornets buy the Jazz name from Utah after selling the Hornets name to Charlotte.

Utah Jazz

The Lakers have to change their name too.

The Utah Jazz used to be the New Orleans Jazz during the ABA years and actually came to the NBA under that name around 1976. Marvin Gaye once was part owner. The Los Angeles Lakers reigned as the Minneapolis Lakers until moving to LA in 1961.

[Edited 12/5/12 16:11pm]

pelicans? really?

fly pelicans fly!

the Hornets are one of the worst NBA franchises anyway

JoeTyler said:

the Hornets are one of the worst NBA franchises anyway

The Unibrow to the rescue.

JoeTyler said:

pelicans? really?

fly pelicans fly!

the Hornets are one of the worst NBA franchises anyway

They were good during the '90s imho

Timmy84 said:

sexton said:

Do an NBA round-robin and have the Hornets buy the Jazz name from Utah after selling the Hornets name to Charlotte.

Utah Jazz

The Lakers have to change their name too.

The Utah Jazz used to be the New Orleans Jazz during the ABA years and actually came to the NBA under that name around 1976. Marvin Gaye once was part owner. The Los Angeles Lakers reigned as the Minneapolis Lakers until moving to LA in 1961.

[Edited 12/5/12 16:11pm]

I already know all this which was the reasoning behind my post, but thanks for explaining it to anyone else who didn't.

Fortunately, the name "Washington Expos" was not even considered when that team moved.

sexton said:

Timmy84 said:

The Utah Jazz used to be the New Orleans Jazz during the ABA years and actually came to the NBA under that name around 1976. Marvin Gaye once was part owner. The Los Angeles Lakers reigned as the Minneapolis Lakers until moving to LA in 1961.

[Edited 12/5/12 16:11pm]

I already know all this which was the reasoning behind my post, but thanks for explaining it to anyone else who didn't.

Fortunately, the name "Washington Expos" was not even considered when that team moved.

Ah gotcha.

Horrible name for an NBA team.

I've never latched on to the Charlotte Bobcats the way i did when they

were the Hornets and a lot of fans feel the same way. It was even

better when the Hornets had the old Charlotte coliseum away from downtown

where there was ample parking and less congestion. Pelicans is awful.

Couldn't they have just chosen something like the New Orleans Soul or

New Orleans Blues.

phunkdaddy said:

I've never latched on to the Charlotte Bobcats the way i did when they

were the Hornets and a lot of fans feel the same way. It was even

better when the Hornets had the old Charlotte coliseum away from downtown

where there was ample parking and less congestion. Pelicans is awful.

Couldn't they have just chosen something like the New Orleans Soul or

New Orleans Blues.

Tom Benson wanted to name a basketball team after something that once has roots in Louisiana. In this case, he names it after a minor league baseball team that used to exist in New Orleans.

If it was up to me, I would have prefer the New Orleans Breakers, a name after a football team from the USFL era. At least the word "breakers" sound more basketball-ish.

State bird..............

Graycap23 said:

State bird..............

THAT^ too. The Pelican is the Louisiana state bird.

SavonOsco said:

Ask Utah to sell the Jazz back and sell the Hornets name back to Charlotte... Utah can choose a nickname that reflect their area...

I've heard the same thing going around the various sports forums. Charlotte should buy back the Hornets name, logo, and color scheme, New Orleans should buy back the Jazz nickname and logo from Utah, and Utah should rename their team the Stars, which was the name of their old ABA franchise, which actually won an ABA title back in 1971.