Steve Clifford holds the record for most games coached in Charlotte Hornets franchise history.
With the hiring of Charles Lee in 2024, Charlotte has now had 12 coaches across their 35 seasons in the NBA. We’ve compiled a list of the Hornets/Bobcats top 5 bench bosses in terms of games coached, so let’s take a further look at their tenures in North Carolina.
1. Steve Clifford – 574 Games (2014-18; 2022-24)
The most recent name on our list, Clifford holds the top spot in Charlotte’s history in wins (244), games coached and overall years, as he spent a combined seven seasons with the Bobcats and Hornets. His first stint from 2014 – 2018 saw his teams make the Playoffs twice, but they were never able to make it past the opening round. Clifford’s best campaign was in 2015-16, when Charlotte posted a 48-34 record. After moving on to Orlando from 2019 – 2021, he returned for two seasons with the Hornets in 2023 and 2024, but he was moved to an advisor role thereafter. In total, Clifford put together a 244-330 career mark for the franchise.
2. Allan Bristow – 410 games (1992-96)
After seven years as an assistant with San Antonio and Denver, Bristow was hired as the head coach of the Hornets in 1991, where he would work until his firing after the 1996 season. He led Charlotte to a 31-51 record in his rookie campaign, the worst mark over his five seasons with the franchise. Bristow won at least 41 games in four out of five runs, posting a career-best 50-32 record in 1995. The Hornets made two postseason appearances during his time there, although they never made it past the second round. Overall, Bristow’s 207-203 record over five years gives him the only winning record on this list, while being second in wins and win-loss percentage (50.5) in the organization’s history.
3. Paul Silas – 401 games (1999-2003; 2010-12)
Silas started his coaching career immediately after spending 16 seasons as a player from 1964 to 1980, suiting up with Atlanta, Boston, Seattle, Phoenix and Denver. At the end of the 1979-80 campaign, he was traded by Seattle to the San Diego Clippers, where he was hired as the head coach from 1980 – 1983. Silas bounced around as an assistant over the next decade-plus before being named an interim replacement for 35 games with the Hornets in 1998-99. He took over as Charlotte’s head coach the following year, spending 1999 – 2003 there, and finished third in Coach of the Year voting in 2000 with a 49-33 record, the best individual mark of his 12 seasons patrolling the sidelines. Silas then made a brief stop in Cleveland from 2003 – 2005, but after five years out of the NBA altogether, he had a reunion with Charlotte from 2010 – 2012 before retiring. Throughout his six-year tenure with the Hornets, Silas compiled a 193-208 record.
4. James Borrego – 301 games (2019-22)
Borrego, who spent 30 games as the interim coach for Orlando in 2014-15, received his first and only head coaching position in the NBA with Charlotte ahead of the 2018-19 season. The Hornets finished 39-43 in his debut year, then went a combined 56-81 over the course of the next two pandemic-shortened seasons from 2019-2021. His fourth and final campaign in Buzz City came in 2021-22 when his squad, consisting of Gordon Hayward, LaMelo Ball and Terry Rozier, accumulated a 43-39 record, Borrego’s best individual campaign to date. The 47-year-old took a two-year hiatus before returning to the sidelines as an associate head coach with New Orleans in 2024-25.
5. Bernie Bickerstaff – 246 games (2005-07)
The father of current Pistons’ coach J.B. Bickerstaff, Bernie spent three seasons at the helm of the Bobcats from 2004-2007. The Benham, Kentucky native accumulated a 77-169 record during his time in Charlotte, increasing their win totals from year to year, with a 33-49 mark in his final campaign in 2006-07 representing the best of those three. Before his time with the Bobcats, Bickerstaff started as an assistant for 12 years in Washington until earning his first head coaching gig with the Seattle Supersonics in 1985-86.
