James Borrego Reportedly Named Hornets Head Coach; 4-Year Contract Agreed To

The Charlotte Hornets have agreed to a four-year deal to make James Borrego the team's next head coach, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. 

Borrego has spent the past three seasons as an assistant with the San Antonio Spurs, also spending time in Orlando and New Orleans. His only head coaching experience at this level came in 2014-15 when he went 10-30 on an interim basis with the Magic after replacing Jacque Vaughn.

Wojnarowski first reported the Hornets' decision on Tuesday following a weekend meeting with team owner Michael Jordan. Celtics assistant Jay Larranaga was also considered a finalist for the job.

While Borrego is relatively inexperienced and young for the job at 40 years old, the Spurs staff has produced several quality coaches in recent years. Brett Brown of the 76ers and former Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer each spent a long time under head coach Gregg Popovich, while fellow assistants Ettore Messina and Becky Hammon have each been interviewed for jobs this offseason.

Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders also had high praise of Borrego:

He will now take over for Steve Clifford, who was fired after five seasons with the Hornets. After making the playoffs three years ago, the squad has been stuck in no man's land for the past two seasons with 36 wins each year.

While Kemba Walker was an All-Star in each of the past two seasons, there is a lot of uncertainty throughout the rest of the roster.

The front office sees Borrego as someone who can provide more direction going forward and hopefully get a lot of production out of young players like Malik Monk, Frank Kaminsky and more.