CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte Hornets legend Muggsy Bogues will have his jersey retired.
Bogues’ No. 1 jersey will be retired on February 11 at Spectrum Center during a game against the Milwaukee Bucks. Bogues will be the third Charlotte Hornets player to have his jersey retired.
During a news conference Thursday, Bogues said he was not expecting the honor.
“I never think about things like this,” Bogues said. “You just play the game, a dream that you have in your head for so long and are just trying to get that across and be accepted. During our era, [I was] trying to break down barriers because they had a stipulation on what that position called for. I just wanted to play basketball.”
Bogues, a 5-foot-3 guard who is the shortest player to ever play in the NBA, was part of the Hornets’ first team in Charlotte and spent 10 seasons with the team. He is being recognized for spending “more than 20 years with the organization as a player and ambassador” and for his “service to the Charlotte community and his contributions to the game of basketball around the globe,” according to the NBA.
Bogues, who played collegiately at Wake Forest, said he wants to be remembered for never giving up on his dream.
“Just a kid that had a dream that didn’t let anyone knock him off his dream, regardless of what the circumstances were,” Bogues said. “He was able to go out and fulfill it to the highest level that he was able to, the highest pinnacle of his career, which was the NBA.”
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