October 29, 2014 – Charlotte Hornets General Manager Rich Cho announced today that the team has exercised its fourth-year option on forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and its third-year option on forward Cody Zeller.

“We are excited to keep both of these young talents as part of our core for another season,” Cho said. “We have been very pleased with their improvement and look forward to seeing them continue to grow alongside the great group of guys we have in our locker room.”

The second overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, Kidd-Gilchrist has played in 140 career games over two seasons in Charlotte, averaging 8.2 points and 5.6 rebounds in 25.2 minutes. He ranked second on the team in rebounds (5.2) and was fourth in both field goal percentage (.473) and steals (0.7). Kidd-Gilchrist earned Second Team All-Rookie honors in 2012-13 after averaging 9.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 78 games played. As a rookie, he became only the second player in NBA history to post two games with at least 25 points and at least 12 rebounds before his 20th birthday and became just the fourth player in 20 years to record two such games in the first 25 games of his career.

The fourth overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, Zeller played in all 82 games of his rookie season, averaging 6.0 points and 4.3 rebounds in 17.3 minutes, earning Second Team All-Rookie honors. He was the only player to play in every game for Charlotte last season and was one of just two rookies to play in all 82 games. Over the season’s final 27 games, he averaged 8.0 points on .518 shooting and 4.9 rebounds, scoring in double figures 11 times during that stretch.

Hornets Sports & Entertainment owns the Charlotte Hornets and operates Charlotte’s Time Warner Cable Arena.

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