Steve Clifford believes Lance Stepenson's slow start and adjustment in his first season with the Charlotte Hornets are partly due to his struggles to live up to external expectations.

"To be fair, one of the things that's made it more difficult for him is that he came here and people proclaimed him as the next superstar," Clifford said Wednesday. "He's not a star. He's a guy that has talent to become a star. To be a star in this league, you have to do it over years."

"It's different. It's not easy. He started two years before he got here. He played on a really good team, so everybody saw him play when no one else was playing. When Al Jefferson came here, he'd [averaged] 19 [points] and eight [rebounds] for like 10 years. You knew what you were going to get. And that's what Lance needs to become. In many ways it's not fair."

"I've told [Stephenson] this. I've been fortunate. I've been around Kobe [Bryant] and [Tracy] McGrady. They were superstars. I was also around Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell. They were two-, three-year All-Stars. [Stephenson has] got a lot of work to get to that level. Everybody proclaimed him as this guy, and if you remember the first time we got him, I said he's got to develop into that."

Stephenson was benched again in the Hornets' loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday. He is averaging 9.7 points and 8.1 rebounds this season.

Jeff Taylor will not appeal his 24-game suspension on a domestic violence incident despite the backing of the players' union.

National Basketball Players Association executive director Michele Roberts ripped NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s punishment as “excessive and without precedent” in a statement on Thursday. The union was eager to challenge the NBA on the severity of the suspension based on the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Taylor and his agent chose to accept the suspension and sit the remaining 13 games until he can return to the lineup.

The National Basketball Players Association announced that it is prepared to file an appeal on behalf of Jeff Taylor in regards to his 24-game suspension for domestic violence.

Michele Roberts called the suspension "excessive, without precedent and a violation of the CBA."

Taylor's suspension would cost him $199,689 of his $915,000 salary.

"The Commissioner is not entitled to rewrite the rules or otherwise ignore precedent in disciplinary matters."

Taylor pled to a misdemeanor charge that will be dismissed at the end of his probationary period.

Jeffery Taylor has been suspended 24 games by the NBA due to his guilty plea to domestic assault charges in September, the league announced on Wednesday.

Taylor had been removed from all Charlotte Hornets' basketball activities.

A 24-game suspension in the NBA is roughtly the equivalent of 4.7 NFL games.

Lance Stephenson has already visualized the scene when his name is introduced in front of the Indiana Pacers' home crowd on Wednesday.

Stephenson expects to receive boos from the crowd after leaving the Pacers as an unrestricted free agent to sign a three-year contract with the Charlotte Hornets.

"Honestly," Stephenson said. "I think I'm going to get booed."

Stephenson's father, Lance Stephenson Sr., maintains that leaving the Pacers was not the plan heading into free agency in the offseason.

"It was definitely a tough decision to leave but it almost was like we had no choice, to me. The next day, they signed CJ Miles so it was over from that point on," Stephenson's father said. "It was tough. It wasn't like, 'Eff, the Pacers!' It was tough to leave. I didn't think it would happen. Before free agency, if you asked me where Lance was going to be, I would've said, 'He's going to be a Pacer for life.' That was one of our goals. I'm a firm believer in sticking with the team you got drafted by."

District Attorney Roger Echols dropped misdemeanor assault charges Thursday against P.J. Hairston.

The charges stemmed from the alleged assault in July on a Northern High School student during a game of pickup basketball at the downtown Durham YMCA.

Echols said he dropped the charge of simple assault and battery at the request of Kentrell Barkley, who claimed Hairston punched him in the face during the game.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist has been diagnosed with a stress reaction in his right foot and will miss the remaining two games on the Charlotte Hornets' road trip, the team announced.

Kidd-Gilchrist will be re-evaluated in Charlotte and a recovery timeline will be determined at that time.

In six games this season, Kidd-Gilchrist is averaging 9.8 points on .625 shooting from the field, 5.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 23.3 minutes per game.

Lance Stephenson was benched for the entire fourth quarter of the Charlotte Hornets' loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday.

Steve Clifford was cleared frustrated some by Stephenson's play.

"I went with the team that was playing the best,” Clifford said, several times pounding the table with his right hand for emphasis. “I’m going to coach to win. He just didn’t play very well. Look, he’s trying to find his rhythm. But we’ve got to be organized.”

Stephenson has shot 4-of-18 in the Hornets' first two games.

“I am frustrated, but that’s part of being a pro,” Stephenson said. “Just learning from your mistakes and getting better every time.”