NBA News: Legendary Ex-Lakers GM Gets New Deal With Hornets

Mitch Kupchak has had his share of trying to whip up NBA teams into form.

He is best known for doing that with the Los Angeles Lakers, particularly during the Kobe Bryant era.

Kupchak’s run with the Lakers produced several NBA titles. He has been known for controversial player acquisitions, the most notable of which was Ron Artest.

There were several others after that, and the moves went on to deliver titles.

After he was fired in 2017, he took a year off and then returned as the president of basketball operations and general manager of the Charlotte Hornets.

Among the moves he made was the selection of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at the NBA Draft.

However, Gilgeous-Alexander was subsequently traded to the Los Angeles Clippers for Miles Bridges, a move that has shown promise.

From the looks of it, it will not be the final one.

The 67-year-old executive announced that he has signed a multi-year contract extension with the Hornets as general manager.

However, he did not mention when the new deal would expire.

“For better or for worse, I will be here for the next couple of years,” Kupchak told reporters.

At the top of his list is looking for a new coach to replace James Borrego.

Kupchak admitted that the decision to ax Borrego was his call and team owner Michael Jordan supported it.

The firing of Borrego was not spared from criticism, especially considering the Hornets went 43-39 in the regular season.

Kupchak explained the reason behind it.

“It was just time to go to another voice and look for another coach to bring us the same kind of improvement that coach Borrego did the first three years,” the executive said.

Aside from the coaching search, Kupchak also plans to stay the course and build around Bridges and LaMelo Ball.

Bridges is a restricted free agent, and the Hornets GM shared that re-signing the 24-year-old cager is one of his immediate plans.

Aside from the coaching search and locking up Bridges, Kupchak will have to figure out what Charlotte will do in the 2022 NBA Draft.

The Hornets own the rights to the 13th and 15 picks, something they could use to acquire a big man to help shore up their defense.

Kupchak also stressed that they do not intend to go after high-priced players.

If so, this could hint that the Hornets' alleged links to Russell Westbrook are unlikely to materialize per Marc Stein of Substack.com.