Muggsy Bogues was reading a script for a Hornets basketball camp promotion. On the next take, the script had changed. It asked fans to join him on Feb. 11 to watch his No. 1 jersey go up to the rafters.
The Charlotte Hornets will retire Bogues' number at halftime of their game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2027, at Spectrum Center. The team announced the honor Oct. 27 and on Nov. 11 posted the video of Bogues, with two of his children, finding out. He will be the third player in franchise history with a retired jersey, joining Bobby Phills (No. 13) and Dell Curry (No. 30).
At 5-foot-3, Bogues is the shortest player in NBA history. Charlotte took him in the 1988 expansion draft, and he played 632 games over 10 seasons with the Hornets. He retired as the team's career leader in assists, with 5,557, and steals, with 1,067, according to the team. His 10.7 assists a game in 1989-90 are still the highest single-season average in team history, and he helped the Hornets win their first playoff series in 1993. When he left the NBA after 14 seasons, his 6,726 assists ranked 12th in league history.
After his playing career, Bogues returned to Charlotte. Asked in the video why he made his home here rather than in Baltimore, where he was born, he said he had gone to college in the state, at Wake Forest, and that Charlotte let him operate at his own pace. "I didn't want to live anywhere else," he said.
He coached the WNBA's Charlotte Sting in 2005 and 2006 and still represents the Hornets at community events. Through the Muggsy Bogues Family Foundation, he supports programs that include a food and resource giveaway serving Charlotte's West Boulevard corridor and scholarships for people pursuing careers in skilled trades.
Tickets for the Bucks game are sold through the team.