Jordan plans to keep a minority stake in the Hornets, the team he bought in 2010 for about $275 million. The sale price was not immediately announced; ESPN, citing sources, said the franchise was being valued at $3 billion. The most recent sale of an NBA team came when Mat Ishbia bought the Phoenix Suns, a deal that when struck in December valued that franchise at $4 billion.
In the entire world, there are only 14 Black billionaires, with only eight of them being African-American. Furthermore, there are also very few wealthy Black people who have the ability or interest to take ownership of a professional sports team.
While Jordan’s 13-year tenure as the owner of the team was nothing to write home about, I feel like his presence in the league was important. Not only because he’s the most popular athlete in the history of the sport, but also because he was the only Black owner in the NBA.
Before Jordan, the only Black owner in the league was Robert Johnson, who coincidentally owned the Hornets before MJ. Jordan’s time as the owner of the Charlotte Hornets is over. As a result, the NBA (and the other major sports leagues) no longer have a Black owner.
On Friday, Jordan agreed to sell his majority stake in the Hornets to a group highlighted by Gabe Plotkin and Rich Shnall for $3 billion, according to ESPN. Hip-hop superstar J. Cole is also a part of the ownership group and will have a minority stake in his hometown team. Despite Black athletes taking up a majority of the spots in the NBA and NFL, representation in coaching, executive, and ownership positions is extremely lacking. This is a result of implicit bias and the racial wealth gap in this country.
Someone has offered a theory explaining the reason Michael Jordan is selling his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets and it seems plausible enough.
MJ’s decision to purchase the NBA franchise turned out to be a very profitable one as he should walk away with $3 billion after the sale. However, the “Rico Knows” YouTube channel is pointing to certain poor choices The GOAT has made in recent years which have forced him into selling the team.
In the video above, you could hear a detailed explanation of the way the GameStop saga has made life difficult for the six-time NBA champion and, how, despite all of his investments and the money he makes off the Jordan Brand with Nike, he’s still in a financial conundrum.
Jordan infamously lost $500 million shorting GameStop stock in 2021, joining multiple wealthy names who bet against the video game retailer. The store is still around and thriving, with the folks who bet the other way witnessing incredible returns.
The former Chicago Bulls shooting guard welcomed Gabe Plotkin as a partner and minority shareholder before throwing the aforementioned sum into the fire. Plotkin is said to have lost close to $7 billion from the error in judgment and he’s exactly who MJ is selling to.
There’s no way of knowing if this is true just yet, but it does make sense, especially given the buyer. In any case, MJ was hardly great at being an owner as the Hornets have only made the playoffs three times since he took over as the majority shareholder in 2010.
He was a very useless owner. Running a sports team well requires a level of liquidity that almost no black man has. Many of those black billionaires on Forbes list don’t have publicly listed companies, therefore their net worth might as well be made up.
What’s funny is that now that MJ has a few billion liquid off this sale, he probably now has what it takes to run a sports team properly
