Michael Jordan: Team owner
Michael Jordan has been the Charlotte Hornets' majority owner for the last 13 years.
With the news of Michael Jordan selling his majority shares in the Charlotte Hornets for $3 billion, let's take a look back at his history as an executive and an NBA owner:
It was the year 2000, two years after winning his 6th championship and second three-peat in the last 8 years, Michael Jordan had finalized a deal with then-Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin to be the team's president of basketball operations after five months of courtship.
The deal also gives Jordan a share of equity that could increase to 20% if Pollin decides to sell. He bought his stake in the team from Lincoln Holdings, the group led by now Wizards owner Ted Leonsis.
I'm going to have my imprints and footprints all over this organization. I look forward to turning this thing around.-Jordan during his introductory press conference after he was named the Wizard's president of basketball operations.
Jordan's considerable drawing power was evident in that press conference which drew the largest media gathering at the then-MCI Center since it opened in 1997. A day before, Jordan watched the Wizards take on the Dallas Mavericks from Pollin's box, with President Bill Clinton at his side.
This is basically the exact reason why he decided to unretire and suit up for the Wizards in 2001. The Wizards were lagging in attendance and lacking the necessary glamour of other successful NBA teams.
They needed a superstar to resurrect the franchise, and there is no bigger superstar than Michael Jordan.
After playing for two years with the Wizards, there was an understanding that Jordan would return to his former role of president. Instead, Pollin gave him his walking papers.
Three weeks after Jordan retired, Michael met with the team owner to discuss what he assumed would be the resumption of his career as team president.
But Pollin had other plans.
He told Michael that the franchise was going in another direction and his services were no longer needed.
Jordan was shocked.
This was not what he expected especially after he brought two seasons' worth of endless sellouts and season-ticket packages, high-end merchandise sales, and copious national TV appearances for the previously moribund franchise.
A heated discussion followed that led to Pollin walking out of the room as Jordan called him several unflattering names.
In a report in 2003 by the NY Times, it was said that the late Wizards owner has held grudge on Michael during his entire stay in Washington.
He wasn't pleased about how Jordan and his people treated his people.
He had only endured everything as long as Jordan is bringing in all the money.
Michael Leahy, in his book titled "When Nothing Else Matters: Michael Jordan's last comeback" all but confirmed this:
During Jordan's comeback, the Wizards' top brass silently endured his presumption. The new revenue sparked by Jordan's return, and the franchise's hunt for national respect, accounted entirely for ownership's meekness. Pollin, a septuagenarian builder and philanthropist who wanted his life story known and who had never found anyone to publish a book about him, had won basketball's version of the Lotto. Everyone suddenly wanted time with him. His arena became a salon for rappers and Cabinet members, foreign titans and Hollywood's royalty. His luxury boxes swelled with new tenants. Jordan's presence on the court turned the Wizards into the league's biggest home draw and made Abe Pollin's floundering franchise profitable, by better than $10 million during each of his two playing seasons in Washington. But the bountiful times obscured the mounting private irritation of Pollin and O'Malley, who liked the burgeoning revenue but chafed under Jordan's slights.
No one thought about it much at the time, but Pollin and O'Malley always held the only power that mattered. They treated Jordan deferentially until his last game had come and gone and the money stopped. Then they moved on him. A mere three weeks after he had taken off his uniform for the last time, Jordan exited the MCI Center alone in a Mercedes convertible with Illinois plates, banished, an out-of-work man trying to navigate his way through traffic, on his way to throwing down a few drinks that evening and flying into jock exile.-Excerpts from "When Nothing Else Matters: Michael Jordan's last comeback."
To be fair, Pollin also had valid reasons for letting Jordan go.
Michael hiring Leonard Hamilton as coach, trading a young Rip Hamilton for a 34-year-old Jerry Stackhouse, and the team having losing records year-by-year during his tenure as president didn't exactly pad his résumé as an executive.
But the biggest misstep of Jordan the president that continues to hunt him up to this day is the selection of high schooler Kwame Brown as the no. 1 overall pick of the 2001 NBA Draft over the likes of Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, Joe Johnson, Richard Jefferson, Tyson Chandler, Zach Randolph, and Shane Battier.
Kwame Brown is considered one of the biggest busts in NBA Draft history.
Fast forward to 2006, Jordan bought a significant stake in the expansion franchise Charlotte Bobcats with him being the second-biggest shareholder next only to majority owner Bob Johnson.
The deal also gave Michael the title "Managing Member of Basketball Operations", putting him in charge of roster-building.
His first major move after becoming the guy with the last say in the Bobcat's basketball operations was drafting Adam Morrison over Rajon Rondo, Kyle Lowry, Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay, JJ Redick, Paul Millsap, and P.J. Tucker.
His first coach hire was the inexperienced Sam Vincent and he was rarely seen at games or even at practices.
But along those misses comes also the hits. He fired Vincent after one year as a coach and hired Hall of Famer Larry Brown.
He also made some trades that landed the team Stephen Jackson, teaming him up with franchise stalwart Gerald Wallace, who the team got in the 2004 expansion draft.
Jackson's and Wallace's Bobcats were a very competitive team.
In fact, in the 2009-10 season, the team made their first-ever appearance in the postseason, winning 44 games, and was good enough to finish 7th in the Eastern Conference.
They were eventually swept by number 2 seed Orlando Magic in round 1.
The Bobcats' first-ever foray into the playoffs coincided with Jordan buying out majority owner Johnson from the team for $250 million.
The deal was swiftly approved by the NBA Board of Governors, making MJ the second black majority owner of a sports franchise after Johnson.
In the 2014 season, the Bobcats officially rebranded back to being the Charlotte Hornets after the name became available in the wake of former Hornets owner George Shin selling the team to the late New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson and Benson renaming the team the New Orleans Pelicans.
In the 17 years that Jordan was executive and owner of the franchise, the team only managed to make the playoffs 3 times and they never got past the opening round during those times.
There were also a lot of misses in the draft that could've propelled the franchise to new heights if it was only done competently.
Imagine this:
They picked Brandan Wright with the no. 8 pick of the 2007 NBA draft when Joakim Noah and Marc Gasol were still on the board
They picked D.J. Augustin when Brook Lopez, Javale McGee, Serge Ibaka, and Goran Dragic were still available in the 2008 Draft
They picked Gerald Henderson over the likes of Jrue Holiday, Jeff Teague, Danny Green, and Patty Mills in the 2009 Draft
They picked Kemba Walker, although a good pick, over Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard, and Jimmy Butler in the 2011 draft
They picked Michael Kidd-Gilchrist in the 2012 draft over Bradley Beal, Andre Drummond, and Damian Lillard in the 1st round
They picked Jeffery Taylor over Draymond Green and Khris Middleton in the 2nd round of the 2012 draft
They picked Cody Zeller over CJ McCollum, Kentavious-Caldwell Pope, Steven Adams, Rudy Gobert, AND Giannis Antetokounmpo in the 2013 draft.
They picked Noah Vonleh in the 2014 draft over Zach Lavine, TJ Warren, Clint Capela, Spencer Dinwiddie, Jerami Grant, Jordan Clarkson, AND Nikola Jokic
They picked Frank Kaminsky over Devin Booker, Myles Turner, Trey Lyles, Cameron Payne, Kelly Oubre, Terry Rozier, Tyus Jones, and Bobby Portis in the 2015 draft
They traded the no. 22 pick in the 2016 draft (Malachi Richardson) when Pascal Siakam, Dejounte Murray, Ivica Zubac, and Malcolm Brogdon were still available
They picked Malik Monk, although a good pick, over Donovan Mitchell, Jarett Allen, Kyle Kuzma, and Bam Adebayo in the 2017 draft
They picked PJ Washington over Tyler Herro in the 2019 draft
They picked Brandon Miller over Scoot Henderson in this year's draft
It will be unfair for any team to be expected to pick the right player(s) every time in every draft.
It is impossible.
But my God, had the Hornets only managed to make it right 1, 2, or 3 times in the years that they were in the lottery, things could've been different by now.
Couple this with the seeming lack of enthusiasm by the Hornets' front office to pursue superstar free agents every offseason and it makes for the perfect recipe for disaster.
Come to think of it, the only notable free agents that I remember that the Hornets have ever signed through the years were Gordon Hayward and Terry Rozier.
If you won't or can't attract big-name free agents, you must be top-notch in selecting young players in the draft to play for your team.
If you have no patience in developing young players and want to contend instantly, you must be top-notch in recruiting "whales" every year.
But in the case of the Hornets, they are neither.
Hence, the state of the franchise.
This is probably the main reason why Michael is selling. Because let's face it, Michael Jordan is never used to losing.
He always found a way to win on the court regardless of the odds.
But being a team owner is different.
He has no control over what happens to his basketball team on the court.
He can only watch helplessly as his team piles up losing record year after year.
Even after being retired as a player for more than two decades, his off-the-court endeavors are still winning more than the Hornets.
His Jordan Brand is as big and as relevant as ever.
He has a successful NASCAR team named 23XI.
He has a tequila company called Cincoro Tequila to which he is a partner with fellow owners Jeannie Buss (Lakers), Wes Edens (Bucks), and Wyc Grousbeck (Celtics).
He has a stake in the sports betting company Draft Kings, and he owns several restaurants, among other ventures.
When it comes to commercial appeal, Mj has the highest Q score among other active and retired legends, with a Q score of 26 and 77% familiarity among the masses.
His enduring appeal has also resulted in Ben Affleck and Matt Damon (in partnership with Amazon Studios) producing the critically acclaimed film "Air". The film is about the epic story of how Nike recruited its biggest star (Jordan) which changed the fate of the company forever.
It stars Affleck, Damon, Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker, and Viola Davis (as Deloris Jordan).
The movie opened in theaters on April 2023 and is now available on Amazon Prime Video.
You can say that the only "blemish" on his illustrious résumé is him being the Charlotte Hornets owner.
And it can take a toll on an ultimate winner like Michael.
And it probably did.
Sports franchise ownership is usually held on and passed on from generation to generation.
It always has been a part of a wealthy family's legacy.
But in Michael's case, his brand is way bigger than the Hornets'.
He can afford to NOT have it in his legendary portfolio.
That's why after 13 years of consistent losing, Jordan finally gave up on the Charlotte Hornets.
And it will forever feel strange when we hear the words "gave up" and "Michael Jordan" in the same sentence as he's never done that his entire life.
Just now.