The Hornets have hired Mike Pires as the general manager and Zach Peterson as the head coach of the Greensboro Swarm, their NBA G League affiliate, according to a team press release.
Pires will continue to serve as director of pro personnel for the Hornets while overseeing the Swarm’s basketball operations. Prior to joining the Hornets, he spent five seasons working with Hawks executive VP of basketball operations Jeff Peterson as a scout for the Nets’ basketball operations department.
Peterson, meanwhile, has been an assistant coach and director of player development with the Hornets for the past two seasons. He spent two seasons (2022-24) as an assistant coach with the Lakers after serving three seasons (2019-22) as a player development coach with the Thunder.
Here’s more from the Southeast Division:
- The Wizards re-signed Trae Youngdrafted AJ Dybants with the top pick and added veterans Khris Middleton, Deandre Ayton and Three Man. How much better will they be compared to last season, when they lost 65 games? ESPN’s NBA insiders tackle that question, noting the team is “all-in” on Young, who along with Anthony Davis will lead an otherwise young core headed by Dybantsa. According to Ohm Youngmisuk, the Wizards could make some noise if Davis can come back healthy and resemble the dominant player he’s been in the past.
- What will Ayton bring to the table for the Wizards? Chase Hughes of Monumental Sports Network examines Ayton’s game from an analytical perspective, noting that he’s a prolific rebounder and posted the highest true shooting percentage (67.6%) and effective field goal percentage (67.1%) of his career last season with the Lakers.
- Former Thunder guard Luguentz there is looking forward to teaming up with fellow Canadian Nickeil Alexander-Walker as a member of the HawksClemente Almanza of The Thunder Wire tweets. “It’s amazing. Obviously, Nickeil is one of my closest friends,” There said. “Played on the same team with Nickeil in high school and against him our whole life, obviously. When I got the call and I knew I was heading there, I hit him right away. I was really happy. He’s helped me out throughout this whole transition and with their style of play. I’m glad that I got a guy like him on my team now.”
- The Magic and WMOR-TV have announced a partnership to telecast games in the Tampa area during the upcoming season, according to a team press release. All regular season games, excluding national telecasts, will be broadcast over-the-air on WMOR-TV Channel 32. The announcement represents an expansion of the partnership between the team and the station, which aired 10 Magic games last season.