Michael Jordan is selling the Hornets: Charlotte’s record since 2010
With Michael Jordan set to sell his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets, here’s a review of what the franchise achieved during his stewardship.
Following an announcement of his intention to sell the franchise, Charlotte Hornets majority owner and arguably the greatest basketball player in history, Michael Jordan, has now left the NBA to face the fact that there will no longer be any team in the league that has Black majority ownership.
Michael Jordan will sell his stake in the Hornets
According to reports, Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan is set to sell his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets. As per reports, Jordan will sell to a group led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall. If you didn’t know, Plotkin has actually been a minority stakeholder in the Hornets since 2019, while Schnall has been a minority owner of the Atlanta Hawks since 2015 and is understood to currently be in the process of selling his stake in the team. To be clear, no word has been given on how long this process will take as it requires the approval of the NBA’s Board of Governors, but what we do know is that it’s going to happen. Interestingly, Jordan intends to keep a minority stake in the team that he bought for approximately $275 million back in 2010.
The NBA faces questions about diversity
As mentioned before, Jordan’s decision to end his 13-year period as an NBA owner effectively leaves the league without any Black representation at that level. That’s something the NBA immediately addressed following the initial reports of the move during the recently concluded NBA Finals.
“In the same way that it’s wonderful that one of our greatest, Michael Jordan, could become the principal governor of a team, he has the absolute right to sell at the same time,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said during the NBA Finals. “Values have gone up a lot since he bought that team, so that is his decision.” Silver then reiterated the idea that diversity in ownership is a key point for the NBA, however, he was also quick to state that the market is what it is. “I would love to have better representation in terms of principal governors,” Silver said. “It’s a marketplace. It’s something that if we were expanding that the league would be in a position to focus directly on that, but in individual team transactions, the market takes us where we are.” In case you’re wondering, there has been no official word on a price, however, some reports have indicated a figure of $3 billion. Whatever the case we do know that the most recent NBA franchise to be sold, was the Phoenix Suns which were bought by Mat Ishiba for $4 billion.
What was the Hornets’ record with Michael Jordan at the helm?
In truth, not so good. As much as the legendary player was a force of nature on the court, winning a national championship with North Carolina, two Olympic gold medals, six NBA championships, and countless individual awards, the reality is he didn’t see nearly the same success as an owner. Quite frankly, Jordan’s time at the wheel in Charlotte was more or less a disaster. Across his 13 seasons in control, the Hornets posted a record of 423-600 which was good enough to rank 26th out of 30 teams in the league during that time. Not only did the Hornets fails to win a playoff series during his stint at the top but they couldn’t even make the postseason across the last seven seasons.
It’s a tough situation in Charlotte and has always been
It’s worth mentioning that Jordan hasn’t hidden his desire to release the reins. As recently as 2020 he sold a minority stake to other owners of the franchise including the above-mentioned Plotkin. This is not surprising given the fact that the Hornets have never truly been successful with Jordan as owner. In this most recent campaign, the team posted a 27-55 record and while it was plagued by injuries the truth is, the overall play was not up to par. On a positive note, the franchise does hold the No. 2 pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. With Victor Wembanyama widely expected to go at No. 1, that means we’re looking at either Scoot Henderson or Alabama’s controversial guard, Brandon Miller.
The Hornets do of course have LaMelo Ball as well as some very decent support in players like Terry Rozier, Gordon Hayward, P.J. Washington, and Mark Williams but it’s now clear that this isn’t just about personnel. Indeed, Jordan has often been criticized for not dipping into the free agency market with enough force, a fact that is further supported by the team’s lack of competitive fight. Consider for a moment that when he took over in 2010, the team was coming from a season in which they won 44 games but were swept by the Orlando Magic in the first round of the playoffs. It would be a lie to say things didn’t get worse. In his first year, the team posted a 34-48 record and then an abysmal 7-59 the next - it was the NBA’s worst record. What has followed is one of the league’s longest droughts. Across the last seven years, the Hornets have had only one winning season. They’ve never won an NBA championship.