Many regard Michael Jordan as the greatest basketball player of all time, but he’s been less successful as an owner. His record at Charlotte isn’t easy reading for fans and his time there could soon be coming to an end.
Jordan first became a minority stakeholder in the then Charlotte Bobcats in 2006 and became majority owner of the franchise in 2006. In 2014, the team rebranded as the Hornets.
Last week it became known that ‘Air’ Jordan was weighing up selling most of his shares in the franchise. If he does so, he will leave as one of the worst owners of all time.
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Losing record
In the 17 seasons since Jordan joined the organisation, Charlotte have only finished with a positive win-loss balance in four. Of those, they only made it to the Playoffs in three, losing in the first round on each occasion.
Of all NBA teams, no one is on a longer streak of not reaching the Playoffs than the Hornets, who haven’t reached the post-season since 2016. With Jordan on board, the team has an overall win rate of 41.9%.
Worst season in history
These numbers include the worst season by any team in NBA history when the Bobcats won just 10.6% of their games in the 2011/12 season. That season included a losing streak of 23 straight games.
Jordan took over all basketball operations when he joined Charlotte in 2006 and some of his decisions since then have been very questionable.
Draft record
If we just look at one area where huge improvements could have been made, Jordan’s draft record will be painful reading for Hornets fans. He selected Michael Kidd-Gilchrist ahead of Bradley Beal and Damian Lillard; Cody Zeller ahead of Steven Adams, Rudy Gobert and Giannis Antetokounmpo (though the latter was also passed over by 13 other franchises); Noah Vonleh ahead of Zach LaVine; Frank Kaminsky ahead of Devin Booker; Malik Monk ahead of Donovan Mitchell and Bam Adebayo; and also selected Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, currently the NBA’s fifth-leading scorer, to be traded that same night for Miles Bridges.