Charlotte Hornets: Best candidates for 2018-19 NBA awards

After a busy offseason with a new general manager and coach, which players for the Charlotte Hornets could compete for the NBA’s top individual awards?

The 2018-19 season marks the 30th anniversary of the Charlotte Hornets. Over the course of those 30 years, the franchise has had more name changes than trophies. They haven’t won a single championship, conference or even division title.

It’s not good when it comes to individual awards either; they’ve never had a MVP winner on their team, despite some excellent years in the 1990s from Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson.

The cupboard isn’t all bare for the Hornets though; they do have two Rookie of the Year trophies and one Sixth Man of the Year trophy in their history.

The Sixth Man of the Year trophy belongs to Dell Curry from the 1993-94 season. That season was Curry’s best season of his career from a production standpoint, as he put up 16.3 points and 2.7 assists per game coming off the bench. Curry received 46 first place votes, edging out Nate McMillan‘s 37 first place votes.

The first Rookie of the Year award for the Hornets was for Larry Johnson in 1991-92. As a rookie, he averaged 19.2 points and 11.0 rebounds per game on 49 percent shooting. LJ won in a landslide, earning all but 5.5 of the possible 96 first place votes.

The second Rookie of the Year award was during the first year the franchise was known as the Bobcats, when they drafted Emeka Okafor. In his first season, Okafor averaged 15.1 points and 10.9 rebounds per game. He would win the ROY over fellow UCONN alum Ben Gordon.

Can a Hornet win one of the coveted awards in the 2018-19 season? Let’s take a look at who has the best chance to win the different individual awards in Charlotte, and how their odds of actually taking home some hardware look.