CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Charles Lee joked that his wife thought he was a little crazy when he decided to step away from his job as a single stock equity trader on Wall Street to become a full-time basketball coach.
Turns out it was a pretty good career move.
Since walking away from Bank of America in 2012 to coach at Bucknell, Lee has gone on to win two NBA championships as an assistant coach, including last week with the Boston Celtics following 2021 with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Now, at age 39, he gets his first crack at being a head coach at any level with the Charlotte Hornets, a perennially disappointing franchise that hasn’t been to the postseason in eight years — the longest active drought in the NBA — and hasn’t won a playoff series in nearly a quarter century.