Michael Jordan Named Part Owner of Charlotte
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Bob Johnson wanted Michael Jordan involved with his NBA team from the start. It just took the
Charlotte Bobcats owner three years to make it happen.
Jordan bought a significant piece of the Bobcats on Thursday, becoming the second-largest individual investor behind Johnson. He was named the managing member of basketball operations, and will immediately turn his attention to helping general manager Bernie Bickerstaff prepare for the NBA draft.
The Bobcats have the No. 3 overall pick in the June 28 draft.
"When I put Michael and Bernie together, they got into it right away," Johnson said. "Over the next several days, Bernie will be doing a download on Michael of all the intelligence that he's gathered about what the team needs.
"He is going to be fully briefed and ready to aid Bernie in making the best decisions possible when it comes to draft selections."
It's exactly what Johnson has wanted since 2002, when the BET founder paid $300 million to beat a Larry Bird-backed group for Charlotte's expansion NBA team. He had previously offered Jordan any role he wanted in the organization, but Jordan passed on the offer to pursue his own ownership opportunities.
Nothing materialized, and the offer to be part of the Bobcats came back on the table during Johnson's recent purge of his front office. He has let go of president and CEO Ed Tapscott, and the chief marketing and operations manager in the past two weeks.
"Michael has made several attempts to own his own team, and the NBA has been very active in trying to help Michael acquire a team," Johnson said. "When that didn't happen and time passed on, I think Michael saw this as a way to be connected with basketball, do other business pursuits and do something with a friend of his in Carolina where he was born and played ball."
Jordan, who led the
Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships and won five MVP awards, bought into Johnson's existing portfolio of media, entertainment and financial services. He's also the first black owner of any professional franchise.
"I'm excited to join Bob, and invest alongside one of the most astute businessmen I know," Jordan said in a statement. "I am also looking forward to providing my advice, where needed, to Bobcats management in order to put the best possible team on the court."
Jordan's involvement was largely welcomed across NBA.
Commissioner David Stern said he was "elated to have Michael back in the league," while
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban offered up some immediate advice.
"Welcome to my world, Michael," he said. "Get out the checkbook."
Charlotte guard Raymond Felton, like Jordan a North Carolina alum, was hopeful Jordan's involvement will carry over onto the court.
"He's known as the best player to ever play this game — he'll be a big asset to this team," Felton said. "He's going to be a guy who's probably going to come down and talk junk to us a lot and mess with us, but he's a great man.
"I think he'll be at a lot of practices with us, messing with us, he might even practice with us some time."
This is Jordan's second ownership attempt, following a failed bid with the
Washington Wizards.
Jordan became part owner and president of the Wizards' basketball operations in 2000, and was criticized for selecting high schooler Kwame Brown with Washington's first overall pick in the 2001 draft.
He also came out of retirement and played two seasons for the Wizards, failing to make the playoffs before retiring again.
He assumed he would return to his front-office job, but owner Abe Pollin instead fired him — Jordan's first basketball setback since he was cut from the varsity high school team as a sophomore in Wilmington.
Johnson, who met Jordan at a Bulls game almost 17 years ago and struck up a lasting friendship, offered Jordan any job he wanted with his basketball team that same day.
Jordan mulled it over for close to four months before passing on the offer. He also tried to purchase a majority interest in the
Milwaukee Bucks, but that fell apart.
Jordan had been largely out of sight since then. Now that he's back, he'll have to rebuild a fan base still bitter over the Hornets' departure to New Orleans in 2002 and fix several of Johnson's early missteps.
The Bobcats ranked 28th in attendance after their first season in the outdated Charlotte Coliseum, then moved into a new $265 million arena last season that has yet to secure naming rights. Though the arena received rave reviews, the Bobcats sold out only seven of 41 games and attendance ranked 22nd in the NBA.
Even worse was their season ticket sales, which was third-worst in the NBA and led Johnson to lower season ticket prices for next year.
Michael Jordan Named Part Owner of Charlotte Bobcats
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