Charlotte Hornets: Michael Jordan to join NBA Foundation board of directors

Over the weekend, the Charlotte Hornets had an important member of their organization join the NBA Foundation board of directors.

The inaugural NBA Foundation board of directors were announced on Friday with an eight-member team containing commissioner Adam Silver, NBPA director Michelle Roberts, four-team owners, and two players. Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan is one of the few team governors to join the group.

Jordan will be working alongside New Orleans Pelicans governor Gayle Benson, Atlanta Hawks owner Tony Ressler and Toronto Raptors Governor Larry Tanenbaum. Tanenbaum is also of the chairman of the NBA board of governors.

Eight-year veteran Harrison Barnes and Philadelphia 76ers talent Tobias Harris will be the two players to represent the league.

According to Andrew Joe Potter of theScore, the NBA and the NBPA the foundation made the following statement about the program:

"“Drive economic empowerment for Black communities through employment and career advancement.”"

The foundation is funded by a commitment from each team to provide the organization with 1 million dollars, every year for ten years.

The foundation is one of many ways that the NBA is looking to address racial injustice in America. The NBA is also aiming to promote black-owned businesses’ and are trying to increase the amount of black representation across the league.

Michael Jordan purchased a minority stock of the Charlotte Bobcats in 2005, where he became the second-largest shareholder within the organization. Jordan began to run the Hornets basketball operation as ‘Managing Member of Basketball Operations’.

In early 2010, Jordan was seeking majority ownership where the NBA unanimously approved the team’s purchase. Jordan became the first previous player to own an NBA basketball team.

According to the New York Times(subscription required), during the NBA lockout, Jordan was one of the two-dozen owners to cap players basketball-related income at about 50 percent. Jordan was even fined $100,000 during an offseason for taking a stance and publicly announcing the need for teams to reduce costs.

Even though Jordan still owns a majority of the basketball team, he sold a minority stake in the 2019 offseason to Melvin Capital founder Gabe Plotkin and founder of D1 Capital Partners Daniel Sundheim.