Charlotte, N.C. ? For seven seasons, Camilla Saunders has been a fixture in the upper tier at the Charlotte Coliseum, shaking noisemakers and yelling for her beloved Hornets.

On Friday, as NBA owners approved the team’s move to New Orleans for next season, she could only hope her team, still alive in the NBA playoffs, will extend its season a few more weeks with a run to the championship round.

Charlotte's David Wesley, center, jokes with head coach Paul Silas, right, as teammate Stacey Augmon, back, walks by at the team's facility in Fort Mill, S.C. NBA owners approved the Hornets' move to New Orleans on Friday, assuring that the team's 13-year era in Charlotte is about to come to an end.

“I don’t think it’s going to hit me again until our season is actually over,” Saunders said. “I’m hoping and praying they’re going all the way to the end, so Charlotte will see what it’s lost.”

Trailing the New Jersey Nets 2-1 in a best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal, the Hornets will play at least one more game on Sunday at the arena that has been home for all 14 seasons of their existence.

NBA approval of the move had been viewed as likely for months and a near-certainty since May 2, when a league relocation committee voted unanimously for the transfer.

“It was expected news,” Mayor Pat McCrory said Friday. “I continue to state that in the long run, the NBA’s made a bad decision, but in the long term Charlotte’s made a good economic decision because we weren’t going to get in a bidding war.”

Guard David Wesley, who has played five seasons in Charlotte and has close ties to the community, said players now can plan for the future, even as they try to focus on playoff victories.

“There’s a lot going on right now that’s pretty important not to say (the move) is not important but we have a focus of trying to win a championship and trying to win the next game to get to that point,” he said.

Guard Baron Davis said Friday’s vote was a formality.

“It’s been official, really,” he said. “We’ve all known for the past week or so that we’re moving, so it’s not really going to change our mentality or change what we’re trying to accomplish.”

The 11,363 who attended Thursday’s win over the Nets were in stark contrast to the team’s glory days, when the Hornets sold out 364 straight games.

The 1988 expansion team helped put Charlotte on the national sports map, and the Hornets’ distinctive teal-and-purple merchandise was among the league’s top sellers.

But the team failed to hold players who were fan favorites, including Alonzo Mourning, and attendance declined. Disenchantment grew during the 1998-99 NBA lockout and a civil trial in which founding owner George Shinn was accused of sexual assault. A South Carolina jury found against Shinn’s accuser in that case.