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Not even Michael Jordan could save the Charlotte Hornets franchise.
The announcement that Jordan will sell his majority stake in the NBA team with the sordid history proves the Hornets-Bobcats-Hornets have messed up every chance they have had of winning in the Queen City since 1988. But MJ selling to two successful businessmen with limited experience in pro sports is a clear reminder of how hedge fund billionaire David Tepper has not yet turned around the NFL Panthers in a different industry than investments.
The city of Charlotte gave its NBA team every chance, building two state-of-the-art arenas and leading the NBA in attendance in their early, most dismal seasons. Then, of course, original owner George Shinn was essentially run out of town for his sleazy private life and moved the team to New Orleans.
To escape the threat of lawsuits, the NBA awarded Charlotte another franchise in 2004 as BET founder Robert Johnson beat out some Hall of Fame bidders including Larry Bird to be the first minority owner of what soon turned into the Bobcats to play off the new owner’s first name.
The coaching conga line reads like a Who’s He and later a Who’s Who with Larry Brown having the most success with the Bobcats before Jordan had his fellow former Tar Heel step down. Since then the team changed its name back to Hornets but has not had much success with a seven-year playoff drought.
Jordan will stay on through Thursday night’s NBA Draft, but he has hardly been a good luck charm in picking players with general manager Mitch Kupchak, another one-time ACC Player of the Year for Dean Smith. The Hornets had the odds to get this year’s No. 1 pick but lost in the drawing to San Antonio.
So 7-foot-5 French phenom Victor Wembanyama will go to the Spurs, and the Hornets are back in the familiar position of trying to find their next franchise rookie of the year since the last in LaMelo Ball in 2021.
Meanwhile, Kupchak and coach Steve Clifford have managed to put an exciting, although losing, product on the court and kept the average attendance high despite a 103-133 record over the last three seasons.
Jordan has turned 60 and the oft-invisible owner is likely happy to stay in the news with the never-ending social media drag about him and his unparalleled yet still controversial career in the NBA. MJ has never lived full-time in Charlotte, which might be reflected in his limited effect on the team.
Featured image via Associated Press/Chuck Burton
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