NBA Rumors: Nets' Jeff Peterson to Be Hired as Hornets' Head of Basketball Operations

The Charlotte Hornets plan to hire Brooklyn Nets assistant general manager Jeff Peterson to be the team's next head of basketball operations, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Peterson will replace GM Mitch Kupchak, who is moving to an advisory role.

It's a new era in Charlotte with governors Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin now in control of the team after their group bought a majority stake in the franchise from Michael Jordan for an approximate $3 billion valuation last August.

Now the 35-year-old Peterson, who is expected to reach a contractual agreement with the Hornets "soon," will guide the Hornets.

As for why Peterson got the job, Wojnarowski explained:

"Charlotte's ownership is convinced of Peterson's ability to be a long-term leader for the organization and deliver it the kind of player personnel acumen, relationships and deal-making ability with rival executives, player agents and players necessary to transform the Hornets into a formidable franchise."

Peterson has been the Nets' assistant GM since 2019, under Sean Marks. He also worked in the Atlanta Hawks organization from 2013-2019, rising from basketball operations coordinator to director of scouting to assistant GM.

He also played college basketball for Iowa, Arkansas and Florida State from 2007-2012, averaging 6.0 PPG and 2.8 APG.

Now he's tasked with overseeing a Hornets team that hasn't made the playoffs since the height of the Kemba Walker era in 2015-16. Charlotte does have talent to build around led by LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller, but at 15-43, much work still needs to be done for this team to be competitive. That'll be Peterson's job now to get that done, but signs point to him being a well-qualified candidate capable of completing that mission.