April 15, 2008 – In a league where amazing comebacks happen, none is as dramatic as the return of the Hornets to New Orleans this season.

When the 2007-08 season began in late October, the Hornets did the unexpected by returning home to Katrina-ravaged New Orleans after playing the last two seasons in Oklahoma City. Nearly six months and 80 games later, the Hornets have surpassed all expectations by sitting near the top of the very tough Western Conference for most of the season.

Much of the success of the Hornets this season is due to the MVP-caliber performance of Chris Paul, the emergence of David West and Tyson Chandler and the resurgence of Peja Stojakovic.

The NBA likewise provided a very valuable assist to the Hornets’ effort to make their comeback season special when it decided to hold this year’s annual All-Star Weekend in New Orleans. Not only did the people of New Orleans see the best players in the league battle each other on their home court, but they also saw present and past NBA stars, league officials and staff help build houses and rebuild schools as part of the NBA Cares program. In a way, it was not only the Hornets who made their way back to New Orleans; the NBA itself, the entire league is back in the Big Easy.

An added treat for the basketball fans in New Orleans: There were three Hornets on the Western All-Stars team. Two played on the court: Paul and West. A third Hornet, head coach Byron Scott, was on the sidelines coaching the West squad. Scott was selected by virtue of the Hornets’ Western Conference-leading record 32-13 as of Feb. 3.

What makes the Hornets’ comeback season in the Big Easy amazing is the fact that only a handful thought the team had a chance of making it to the playoffs, much less emerging as champions of the very competitive Western Conference.

In the two years that the team was based in Oklahoma City, it posted a 38-44 record in 2005-06 and followed it up with a nearly identical 39-43 scorecard in 2006-2007. In both years, the Hornets finished 10th in the West and missed the playoffs.

This year, the Hornets currently hold the No. 2 spot in the Western Conference with a 55-25 record, half a game behind the conference-leading Los Angeles Lakers, and 1 1/2 games ahead of the defending champion San Antonio Spurs. With two games left on its regular-season schedule, New Orleans can still maintain the No. 2 seed in the playoffs.

The Hornets gave notice that their homecoming season would be a special one right from the opening tipoff of their home season opener on Oct. 31. In their first game back in the New Orleans Arena, the Hornets routed the Sacramento Kings, 104-90, to immediately reclaim their thrones as Kings of the Big Easy. Paul and Chandler led the assault with double-doubles; Paul posted 22 points and 12 assists, while Chandler notched 15 points and 13 rebounds. Stojakovic and West chipped in with 19 and 17 points, respectively.

Paul, who made his first All-Star appearance in February, is averaging 21. 2 points and leads the league in assists with 11.5 and steals with 2.7. The former Wake Forest standout is currently the frontrunner along with the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant.for this year’s Most Valuable Player Award.

Like Paul, West was selected to the West’s All-Star team for the first time this year. The 6-9, 240-pound forward from Xavier (Ohio) has emerged as the Hornets’ second option on offense, averaging a career-best 20.3 points and 8.9 rebounds this season.

Chandler, fresh off a stint playing for the U.S. National Team last summer, has been the Hornets’ defensive presence inside the paint that allowed the team to hold its own against the big, bad teams of the West on even terms. The 7-1 product of Dominguez High (Calif.) is scoring at an 11.7 ppg. clip this campaign, up from his career average of 8.1. He ranks fourth in the league in rebounds with 11.8 per game.

A big bonus for the Hornets was the health of Stojakovic, who has played in almost all the Hornets’ games this season despite missing all but 13 games last year because of back surgery. The three-time All-Star from Serbia is showing the league that he has not lost his touch, averaging 16.4 ppg. and shooting 45 percent from the 3-point range, which is fourth best in the league among players with at least 100 attempts from behind the arc.

The Hornets helped themselves at the start of the season when they signed free agent shooting guard Morris Peterson. Midway through the season, the team boosted its push for a first-ever championship by acquiring Bonzi Wells and Mike James from the Rockets before the trade deadline.

The 6-7 Peterson, who played for the Toronto Raptors for the past seven years, has been a starter for coach Scott since day one, averaging eight points a game. The 6-5 Wells has provided instant offense off the bench for New Orleans since joining the team, averaging 9.5 ppg. James, a six-year veteran, is expected to provide veteran leadership off the bench at the point come playoff time.

Now, can the Hornets go all the way and win it all? That's hard to say, given the level of competition right now in the tightly packed Western Conference. One thing is sure, though. If and when that happens, that would make the team’s return to New Orleans the biggest comeback in NBA history.