Nearly three months after announcing the sale of a majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets, Michael Jordan is finalizing an agreement with Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin, as reported. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Plotkin was already a minority stakeholder in the franchise while Schnall owned a piece of the Atlanta Hawks.
Back in March, initial reports of the potential sale said that Jordan was already talking to Plotkin, who acquired his stake in 2019. Per Associated Press:
“Four years ago, Michael Jordan sold an interest in the Charlotte Hornets to a group led by Gabe Plotkin,” Jump Management, the Jordan family office, said in a statement Wednesday. “As a normal step in the process due to that deal, Michael and Gabi are in discussions about the possibility of his group purchasing an additional stake.”
Plotkin is the founder of the hedge fund Melvin Capital GameStop controversy over ‘meme stock’ in 2021. Schnall is the president of the private equity firm that helped catalyze the sale of the Atlanta Hawks in 2015.
Jordan, the man widely considered to be the greatest basketball player of all time, was the first former player to become the majority owner and sole majority owner of black football after he purchased the Charlotte Bobcats from Bob Johnson, founder of the BET television network, in 2010. (Johnson made history as the first majority owner The Blacks were in the league when the expansion franchise began play in 2004.) Jordan originally bought a minority stake in 2006 and served as the team’s president of basketball operations.
On the whole, the Bobcats/Hornets have never enjoyed a fraction of the success that Jordan has had as a player under them. The franchise has only had two playoff appearances (both first-round losses to the Miami Heat), three seasons with a record above . 500 and only one player to win a regular season award for playing on the court (LaMelo Ball’s Rookie of the Year in 2021).
Charlotte has the second overall pick in the upcoming NBA draft, which will be Jordan’s last as majority owner. He would still retain an interest in the team once the sale was approved by the other team owners and the NBA.