Hornets to retire 5-foot-3 Muggsy Bogues jersey on Feb. 11

The Charlotte Hornets announced on Tuesday that they will retire the No. 1 jersey of Muggsy Bogues on Feb. 11. The move will hang Bogues’s number in the rafters of the Spectrum Center. This action makes him the shortest player in NBA history to have his jersey retired.

Bogues stands 5-foot-3. He is the shortest player in the league’s history. The previous holder of that distinction was Calvin Murphy. Murphy, a 5-foot-9 point guard, played his entire career for the San Diego and Houston Rockets.

Bogues attended Wake Forest University. The Washington Bullets selected him with the 12th overall pick in the 1987 draft. He began his career playing alongside Manute Bol, who was the tallest player in NBA history at the time. Bol now shares that title with Gheorghe Mureșan.

The Bullets left Bogues unprotected in the 1988 expansion draft. The incoming Charlotte Hornets selected him before their inaugural season. Bogues became the full-time starting point guard for Charlotte during the 1989-90 season. He held that position through 1997.

Bogues never made an All-Star Team. He never averaged more than 11.1 points per game. He did average double-digit assists on multiple occasions. He is Charlotte’s all-time leader in steals. The 1990s represented the most successful era in Hornets history. Bogues, Larry Johnson, and Alonzo Mourning led the team to several postseason appearances.

Bogues appears in the film Space Jam. He was one of five active NBA players whose talent was stolen by the MonStars to face Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes. He will become the third Hornets player to have his jersey retired. He joins Bobby Phills, who died in a car accident in 2000, and Dell Curry, who remains with the team as a broadcaster.