Michael Jordan in Talks to Sell Majority Stake in Hornets

The 60-year-old NBA icon has been the team’s majority owner since 2010.

The Hornets could soon be under ownership following a report that owner Michael Jordan may be looking to sell the team.

Jordan, who’s owned Charlotte for 13 years, is currently engaged in “serious talks” to sell his stake to a group led by Hornets minority owner Gabe Plotkin and Hawks minority owner Rick Schnall, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowki reported Thursday. The deal is reportedly not imminent but there is said to be “significant momentum” on a sale, according to Wojnarowski.

Should the deal come to fruition, the change in ownership would end Jordan’s 13-year tenure as the Hornets owner, though he’s “expected to remain with a minority stake,” per Wojnarowski. The 60-year-old NBA icon first purchased a minority stake in the then-Bobcats in 2005, and eventually took over as majority owner in 2010 after paying $275 million for a majority stake. 

To date, Jordan has been the only Black majority owner of any professional team in North American sports in the last 13 years. During Jordan’s time as a owner, Charlotte has found varying degrees of success on the floor, both in its final years as the Bobcats and since returning to its Hornets moniker in 2014.

The club has gone a combine 418–594 under six different coaches since the 2010–11 season, with two playoff appearances in ’13–’14 and ’15–16. Currently, the Hornets (22–49) rank 14th in the Eastern Conference under coach Steve Clifford, who was re-hired last June after previously coaching the club from ’13–’18.