It has been a little more than two weeks since the Charlotte Hornets fired GM Rich Cho and began the process of finding the man to fill his role on a permanent basis. The team knows what traits they are looking for in their next GM — someone who can continue the analytics trend Cho began in Charlotte, while also adding some who has strong networking skills around the NBA.

That all said, the process of replacing Cho is still in its early stages. Former Los Angeles Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak was the early favorite for the gig and that remains true today, writes Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com. However, it is worth noting that other names have entered the GM candidate pool, a topic which Wojnarowski provides more insight on:

The Charlotte Hornets have started securing permission to interview candidates for the franchise’s vacant general manager position, league sources told ESPN.

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The Hornets are engaging in a wider search process and plan to start an initial round of conversations with candidates as soon as this week, league sources said.

Charlotte has received permission to speak with Philadelphia 76ers vice president of player personnel Marc Eversley, Houston Rockets executive vice president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas, and Miami Heat assistant general manager Adam Simon, league sources told ESPN.

Charlotte has directly registered its interest with Kupchak, league sources said. Kupchak has a long-standing relationship with team owner Michael Jordan, with whom he shares University of North Carolina ties.

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Assistant general manager Buzz Peterson is running the day-to-day operations for the Hornets now, and is expected to continue with the organization once a new GM is hired. Charlotte is hopeful to have a general manager in place sometime by the end of the regular season in mid-April, league sources said.

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