The Charlotte Bobcats are a professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They play in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association. The Bobcats were established in 2004 as an expansion team, two seasons after Charlotte's previous NBA team, the Charlotte Hornets, relocated to New Orleans. The team is owned by former NBA player Michael Jordan, who acquired the team in 2010. The Bobcats play their home games at Time Warner Cable Arena in center city Charlotte. As of the end of the 2011–12 season, the Bobcats have compiled a record of 229–411. In their 8-year history they have qualified for the postseason just once, which was during the 2009–10 season when they achieved a record of 44–38.

When the Charlotte Hornets relocated to New Orleans in 2002, the NBA promised Charlotte leaders that the city would be granted an NBA expansion team for the 2004–05 season. Several ownership groups, including one led by former Boston Celtics star Larry Bird, made bids for the team. On December 18, 2002, a group led by Black Entertainment Television founder Robert L. Johnson was awarded the franchise, allowing him to become the first majority African American owner in U.S. major professional sports. The rapper Nelly became another notable co-owner.

Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963) is a retired American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. His biography on the National Basketball Association (NBA) website states, "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time." Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.

After a three-season career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of the Tar Heels' national championship team in 1982, Jordan joined the NBA's Chicago Bulls in 1984. He quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, illustrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contests, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness". He also gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in basketball. In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a "three-peat". Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball at the beginning of the 1993–94 NBA season to pursue a career in baseball, he rejoined the Bulls in 1995 and led them to three additional championships (1996, 1997, and 1998) as well as an NBA-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan retired for a second time in 1999, but returned for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Washington Wizards.

Rudy Carlton Gay, Jr. (born August 17, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played collegiately at the University of Connecticut before turning pro.

Gay was one of five siblings and began playing competitive recreational basketball at 12 years old in the Turner Station community of Baltimore County, Maryland in one of the toughest youth basketball leagues in the area. Early exposure to Baltimore AAU basketball and summer league games in the Tom Jones Youth Summer League in Washington, D.C., showcased his abilities against top competition.^{[citation needed]}

At the age of 14, Gay began playing for the nationally-known Cecil-Kirk AAU program under Coach Anthony Lewis with other blue-chip players such as Josh Boone (UConn), Paris Carter (New Mexico State), and Chester Frazier (Illinois). During the spring of his 8th grade year, Gay and teammate Scott Dozier were highly sought after by several private schools. Gay attended Eastern Technical High School in Baltimore County, while Dozier enrolled at the St. Paul's School.^{[citation needed]} Gay transferred to Archbishop Spalding High School of the Baltimore Catholic League after his sophomore year at Eastern Tech.^{[citation needed]}

Dwane Casey (born April 17, 1957) is a former NCAA basketball player and coach who currently is a head coach in the NBA for the Toronto Raptors.

Casey was born in Morganfield, Kentucky, and graduated from Union County High School in 1975.

At the University of Kentucky Casey had a career average of 1.3 points, and 0.6 assists per game. Casey served as team captain during his senior year. He graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in business administration in 1979.

Casey began his coaching career in 1979, as an assistant coach for the University of Kentucky. In late March 1988 while still serving as an assistant coach there, Emery Worldwide employees discovered $1,000 in cash in an envelope that was accidentally opened. The envelope was addressed to Claud Mills, the father of recruit Chris Mills, and the sender was identified as Casey. The University of Kentucky said that the evidence collected during the investigation is inconclusive, and does not prove that Casey sent the money. The scandal resulted in Casey's resignation, and Casey being placed on probation for 5 years by the NCAA.

Kemba Hudley Walker (born May 8, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Charlotte Bobcats. Walker grew up in The Bronx, New York and graduated from Rice High School in 2008. With the Huskies basketball team at the University of Connecticut, Walker was the 2nd leading college basketball scorer in the United States and helped his team win the 2011 NCAA tournament. In the 2011 NBA Draft, Walker was drafted ninth overall by the Bobcats.

In his junior year, Walker played against Simeon Career Academy and senior guard Derrick Rose in Madison Square Garden in a 53–51 win. During Walker's senior year he averaged 18.2 points per game and 5.3 assists per game, earning him a spot on the prestigious McDonald's All-American Team. Walker played for the New York Gauchos AAU basketball program with fellow Big East players Jordan Theodore, Darryl "Truck" Bryant, Devin Hill, and Danny Jennings. The team went on to finish #1 in the nation. Following high school he agreed to play for the University of Connecticut.