On June 25, Beijing time, according to the famous Wernaroski reported that Steve Clifford has reached an agreement with the Charlotte Hornets, and he will return to the Hornets as head coach. Clifford, 60, is one of the league's most respected head coaches, having coached the Hornets for five years and twice led the Hornets into the playoffs.
In the 2000–01 season, Clifford began his coaching career at the Knicks, where he spent three years as an assistant coach in New York. He then went to the Rockets, Magic and Lakers as a teaching assistant. In the 2013–14 season, Clifford was manager at Charlotte (then known as Bobcats) and coached for five seasons, with a regular season record of 196 wins and 214 losses, with a winning percentage of 47.8%, and a playoff 3 wins and 8 losses, with a winning percentage of 27.3%.
In April 2018, the Hornets fired Clifford, who then became magic coach in May of the same year and coached for three seasons. His regular season record under the Magic was 96 wins and 131 losses, and 2 wins and 8 losses in the playoffs.
Clifford is not the Hornets' coach of choice, having previously reached an agreement with Warriors assistant coach Atkinson but not officially signing. What the Hornets did not expect was that Atkinson changed his mind after the Warriors won the championship and announced that he would stay in the Warriors, and the Hornets could only restart the coaching process and complete the draft without a manager. D'Antoni was also a candidate for the Hornets manager, but in the end the Hornets decided to sign another contract with the former head coach. In the 2021-22 season, the Hornets won 43 and lost 39, ranking 10th in the East and missing out on the playoffs.