Glen Rice played 3 seasons with the Hornets, earning an All-Star nod in each campaign.
Despite only being established in 1988-89, the Charlotte Hornets franchise has had some talented scorers throughout their history. Let’s highlight their top five all-time single-season leaders for points per game:
After playing his first six seasons in the league with the Heat, Rice joined the Hornets before the 1995-96 season. He only played three seasons for the franchise, but he was named an All-Star in each of them. His best scoring performance came in the 1996-97 season when he averaged 26.8 points. He did so on the strength of shooting 47.0% from behind the arc. His points per game average ranked third in the NBA behind Michael Jordan (29.6) and Karl Malone (27.4).
The Hornets selected Walker with the ninth pick in the 2011 Draft when the franchise was known as the Charlotte Bobcats. He made three All-Star teams with the franchise across eight seasons. The 2018-19 season was his final campaign with the franchise and it was his best scoring performance with him averaging 25.6 points. That was the 10th-highest mark in the league. He appeared in all 82 games that season and also averaged 5.9 assists, which was the second-highest mark of his career.
The 2016-17 season was the first time that Walker was selected as an All-Star. It was also just the second time in his career up to that point that he averaged at least 20.0 points. Walker shot a career-high 44.4% from the field on his way to averaging 23.2 points. He also shot 39.9% from behind the arc, which ended up being the highest mark of his career.
After playing for the Pistons and Jazz, Tripucka spent the final three seasons of his career with the Hornets. The 1988-89 season was his first with the franchise and it marked his most productive season with the team as he averaged 22.6 points. After averaging just 20 minutes over 49 games the season prior with the Jazz, Tripucka averaged 32 minutes over 71 games with the Hornets. Tripucka would go on to average 15.6 points per game in 1989-90, followed by averaging 7.0 points while mostly coming off the bench in the 1990-91 campaign.
The 1997-98 season was Rice’s final campaign with the Hornets. He played in all 82 games, averaging 22.3 points. Not only did he play in every game, but he logged 40 minutes per game. His efficiency took a bit of a hit compared to the season prior, but he still shot 45.7% from the field and 43.3% from behind the arc.
