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Quick facts:

Founded:                      1988 as Charlotte Hornets
                              2003 as New Orleans Pelicans 
Arena:                        Smoothie King Center 
Capacity:                     16,867
Division Championships:       1(2008)
NBA Titles:                   None
Playoffs:                     6

When the New Orleans franchise became the Pelicans the histories of the two franchises were re-written. The Bobcats got the name Hornets along with the history of the Hornets from 1988-2002. The Pelicans kept their New Orleans and Oklahoma City history from 2002 onward, but are now considered an expansion team.

Local Flair:
The team used it's old moniker -Hornets - for the better part of 12 years after relocating to New Orleans, but the ownership had always desired to change the name to something more local.

The original desire was to take back the Jazz name that the New Orleans team had before relocating to Salt Lake City. The current Jazz, however, refused, citing nearly 30 years of history in Utah and the brand name that they had built in Utah. Some parties in New Orleans wanted to sue for the name, but the NBA warned the Hornets that it would not tolerate such an action and the likelihood of a suit being successful in the courts was slim to none.

Other names that the team considered were Brass and Krewe. Ultimately, the team decided to go with Pelicans after the brown pelican, which inhabits the swamps around Louisiana and is the state bird.

Oklahoma City:
In 2005 hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast and left devastation unlike anything America has seen since the Civil War. The City of New Orleans was practically destroyed by the storm and the Hornets had no place to play.
The City was relocated to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for the entirety of the 2005-2006 NBA season and for most of the 2006-2007 season. The Hornets once again began playing full time in New Orleans during the 2007-08 season.

The success of the Hornets in Oklahoma was key in the NBA's controversial decision to allow the Seattle Supersonics to relocate there and become the Oklahoma City Thunder

Second Attempt:
The Hornets/Pelicans is the city's second attempt at hosting an NBA franchise. From 1974 until 1979 the New Orleans Jazz played in New Orleans before relocating to Salt Lake City.

Before the Jazz the city was also home to the short lived New Orleans Buccaneers of the ABA, which existed from 1967 until 1971.

Pete Maravich:
The Pelicans have retired #7 in honor of "Pistol" Pere Maravich, who was a star at LSU and for the New Orleans Jazz. Maravich died before the Charlotte Hornets were even a franchise and never had any association with the current team.

This is not the only example of teams retiring numbers of players that never played for them; the Miami Heat have retired #23 in honor of Michael Jordan.

The Hornets are attempting a big 3 with DeMarcus Cousins, Jrue Holiday and Anthony Davis.

Anthony Davis was the face of the franchise in the early 2010's.

Elfrid Payton became the first player in 4 seasons to dish out 20+ assists and the first New Orleans Pelicans player to ever do it.

The Greatest Teams To Never Win An NBA Title An often-debated topic among NBA circles is "Who is the greatest franchise in NBA history?". There are lots of very good teams to chose from. Could it be the team with the most NBA titles in 17, the Boston Celtics? Could it be the team with the most consistency in winning titles; the Los Angeles Lakers? Maybe it could be the most consistent team in terms of overall winning the San Antonio Spurs? The Warriors, Bulls, and 76ers also get honorable mentions. All these teams have one thing in common - multiple NBA titles. One thing not often discussed is who is the greatest NBA franchise who has never won a title? The list is actually quite short, as only eleven NBA teams have yet to win an NBA title. Five of those teams to never win a title are recent having just joined the NBA in the past 35 years. Six of the eleven teams have yet to even make an NBA-finals. Three of the four teams from the ABA have never won an NBA title, though the Indiana Pacers and Brooklyn Nets have both gotten close Complete Article