Sports icon Michael Jordan will forever be best remembered as the greatest basketball player of all-time, but MJ has been just as savvy with his mind off the court.
Following the 2005-06 campaign, three years after playing his final NBA season, Jordan joined the Charlotte Bobcats (now Hornets) ownership group, having purchased a small stake. In 2010, Jordan bought the team from Bob Johnson for approximately $180 million.
Now, the Hornets haven't experienced much success on the court under Jordan's ownership. They've only made the playoffs twice since the 2010-11 season, having last accomplished the feat in 2016.
The team hasn't won a single postseason series since returning to the NBA in 2004-05, either. The old Hornets team last one a playoff series in 2002, before relocating to New Orleans (now the Pelicans) in the 2002-03 season.
But as Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer notes, MJ's purchase of the Hornets was a genius investment. After spending less than one-fifth of a billion to become full owner, Jordan has seen a rapid increase in the Hornets' value.
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The team is now worth $1.5 billion, Forbes reported on their most recent NBA team valuations list. That places Charlotte 25th on the list, but Jordan has enjoyed a massive growth in value nonetheless. The team was only worth $780 million back in 2017.
The Hornets are on their sixth head coach (James Borrego) dating back to 2010. Despite a plethora of top 10 draft picks over the year, the Hornets haven't been able to land enough big-named stars to build a winner. It doesn't help playing in a smaller market, considering that many of the top players are joining big market clubs to build superteams in places like Brooklyn, Houston, Los Angeles and Boston.
Obviously, Jordan would love to see a winner on the court. This is a man who won six NBA Championships over an eight-year span in the '90s, after all. But from a business standpoint, his investment of the Hornets was a Grade-A choice. He's among the few athletes to achieve billionaire status, after all.
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