Michael Jordan shouldn’t sell the Charlotte Hornets

Michael Jordan’s interest in selling his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets became public knowledge recently. It’s been a tough stint as majority owner of the franchise for the game’s most recognizable figure. As a player, he was known as one of the fiercest competitors the sport had ever seen. Wanting to win at any sport and at any cost.

The winning, however, hasn’t followed him into franchise ownership. In the 13 full seasons as the majority owner of the franchise, the team has made the playoffs only twice and never made the second round of the postseason. In the 2011-2012 season, the Charlotte Bobcats won a franchise-low seven games in a strike-shortened season.

Michael Jordan is the correct owner to lead the Charlotte Hornets

It would be understandable if Jordan didn’t want to deal with this. He’s a billionaire athlete in his 60s and has become a viral meme several times over at this point. So while the news caught several off-guard, it wasn’t completely crazy to think that Jordan would walk away from his majority stake (he would reportedly still retain a minority share of the team).

But Jordan means a lot to the game of basketball. And sports in general. He’s the only Black majority franchise owner of North America’s main sporting leagues. His rise from player to influential franchise owner is an impressive story that has likely inspired LeBron James (the current most recognizable active NBA player) to state that he wants to own a franchise when his playing career is done. The man was so iconic that people in other professions that were excellent in their jobs became “The Michael Jordan” of whatever field they were in.

He can’t leave like this. He can still be the Michael Jordan of NBA ownership. Particularly when the team is demonstrating lately, even at the tail end of a losing season, that they have the culture to be good moving forward. They have the correct coach in Steve Clifford to guide a young and receptive team to heights the franchise hasn’t seen in over a decade.

They have a brilliant young player in former Rookie-of-the-Year and All-Star LaMelo Ball. And their most recent first-round pick, Mark Williams, has shown that Charlotte finally has its foundational center for the foreseeable future. With a bit of luck and a dollop of health, this will be a playoff team this year. Even for purely financial reasons, selling now would be selling the franchise at its lowest point. It just wouldn’t make fiscal sense.

The luck portion would come in handy this offseason, as the Hornets will have the opportunity to significantly bolster the talent on the roster. Currently, the Hornets have the fourth-best chance to land the top pick. The top pick in the upcoming draft is Victor Wembanyama, the best prospect since James. And even the consensus second pick in the draft, Scoot Henderson has teams drooling. This is the wrong time to step back, Mr. Jordan. The night is always darkest before dawn, and this team is on the precipice of something special.

The pieces are in place for a resurgence in Charlotte, and the fans are feeling it too. Jordan will make the right decision, he always was good with the clock winding down.