1992–93 Charlotte Hornets season

The 1992–93 NBA season was the fifth season for the Charlotte Hornets in the National Basketball Association. The Hornets received the second overall pick in the 1992 NBA draft, and selected center Alonzo Mourning out of Georgetown University. The team also signed free agent David Wingate during the first month of the regular season, then later on traded J.R. Reid to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Sidney Green in December, and released Tom Hammonds to free agency as he later on signed with the Denver Nuggets.

With the addition of Mourning, along with second-year star Larry Johnson and Muggsy Bogues, the Hornets struggled losing four of their first six games of the regular season, but then went on a five-game winning streak afterwards, and held a 26–23 record at the All-Star break. The team won 9 of their final 12 games of the season, finishing in third place in the Central Division with a 44–38 record, earning the #5 seed in the Eastern Conference, and qualifying for their first ever NBA playoff appearance.

Johnson averaged 22.1 points and 10.5 rebounds per game, and was named to the All-NBA Second Team, and selected for the 1993 NBA All-Star Game in Salt Lake City, Utah, while Mourning averaged 21.0 points, 10.3 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, and Kendall Gill provided the team with 16.9 points and 1.4 steals per game. In addition, sixth man Dell Curry contributed 15.3 points per game off the bench, while Johnny Newman contributed 11.9 points per game, Bogues provided with 10.0 points, 8.8 assists and 2.0 steals per game, Kenny Gattison averaged 6.8 points and 4.7 rebounds per game off the bench, and Wingate contributed 6.1 points per game.

Mourning also finished in second place in Rookie of the Year voting behind Shaquille O'Neal of the Orlando Magic, and Curry finished in fourth place in Sixth Man of the Year voting.

In the Eastern Conference First Round of the 1993 NBA playoffs, the Hornets faced off against the 4th-seeded Boston Celtics; after losing Game 1 on the road, 112–101, the Hornets would win the next three games, thus the series, when Mourning sunk a 20-foot jumper at the buzzer in a Game 4 home win over the Celtics, 104–103. The team became the first of the four expansion franchises of the late 1980s to win a playoff series. However, in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals, the Hornets were eliminated by the New York Knicks in five games. The Hornets led the NBA in home-game attendance for the fourth time in five seasons.

Following the season, Gill was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics, and Green was released to free agency.