After serving as the Charlotte Hornets‘ majority owner for the past 13 years, Michael Jordan is finalizing a sale of the team.
ESPN's NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski reports Jordan has agreed to sell the team to an ownership group led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall. The deal will be finalized in the coming days, with Jordan
Along with Plotkin and Schnall, the new ownership group includes North Carolina native J. Cole, which the Hornets announced in an official statement on Friday.
Read the full release on https://t.co/BzkRIrrehy.
🔗 https://t.co/roYUH9ilgI pic.twitter.com/N17fYc0HBp
— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) June 16, 2023
J. Cole is part of the group buying the Hornets, per @JeffZillgitt pic.twitter.com/jxvyIHIbhR
— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) June 16, 2023
Plotkin, an alternate governor on the NBA Board of Governors since 2019, has been a minority owner in the Hornets since 2019. Schnall, who's been a minority owner of the Atlanta Hawks, is scheduled to sell his stake in the team in the coming weeks.
Back in 2010, Jordan become the first Black owner in the NBA, as the former North Carolina Tar Heel and six-time NBA Champion purchased a majority stake in the Hornets, then the Charlotte Bobcats, for $275 million. Over Jordan's 13 seasons at the helm, the team made two trips to the playoffs, losing the first round in 2014 and 2016.
Per Wojnarowski, Jordan will remain in control of Charlotte's basketball operations through next week's NBA draft, before handing the keys to the new ownership group on July 1.
