Michael Jordan Finalizing Sale Of Charlotte Hornets After 13 Seasons As Majority Owner

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Michael Jordan’s run as an NBA owner is coming to an end. Jordan’s reportedly agreed to sell the Charlotte Hornets to a group led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall. Jordan has owned the Hornets for 13 seasons. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to report the pending sale.

In 2010 Jordan purchased a majority stake in the Hornets for $275 million. The price that Plotkin and Schnall are expected to pay Michael Jordan has not been announced, but expectations are that the team will sell for well more than $1 billion.

Matt Ishbia purchased the Phoenix Suns in late 2022 for $4 billion. Prior to the Suns being sold, the Brooklyn Nets were purchased for $3.3 billion and the Houston Rockets for $2.2 billion. The last NBA franchise to sell for less than one billion dollars was the Atlanta Hawks in 2015. Atlanta sold for $850 million.

Rick Schnall is currently a minority owner of the Hawks.

Michael Jordan's Hornets Have The 2nd Pick In NBA Draft

Wojnarowski went on to report that Michael Jordan is expected to remain with the franchise through next Thursday's NBA Draft and the start of free agency, which commences July 1. MJ is also expected to keep a minority share of the Hornets franchise.

Charlotte's sale has been agreed upon in principal and awaits only the NBA's vetting and approval process which is not expected to be anything more than a fa

Michael Jordan has reached agreement to sell the Charlotte Hornets. (Jeff Siner/Charlotte Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images).

Though Jordan is arguably the greatest NBA player of all-time, those successes have not translated to ownership. In the Hornets' 13 seasons under MJ's majority ownership, the franchise reached the playoffs just twice, never further than the second round. The 2022-23 season marked the seventh consecutive season the Hornets failed to advance to the postseason.

Charlotte finished what will have been Jordan's last season as owner a disappointing 27-55.

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Anthony is a former high school basketball intramural champion who played a leading role in creating two offspring. He spends his weekends hoping for an MTV Rock N' Jock revival. Follow him on X (@OhioAF).