Michael Jordan achieved the pinnacle of his basketball career during his playing days with the Bulls. However, being so great at something comes with a curse. That nothing else in the world would ever match up to the standard of what he did with the basketball in his 30s, at least for his fans and critics who keep an eye on every move he has made, even after retiring.
He bought an ownership stake in the Charlotte Hornets (Charlotte Bobcats at the time) in 2010, four years after Raymond Felton was drafted No. 5 overall in the NBA Draft. Felton recently appeared on Paul George’s podcast and narrated a story about Jordan trash-talking him while torching him in practice, and went on to defend Jordan’s actions as an owner.
“Him as an owner, though, man, let me say that, though, a lot of people give him, giving him dirt about being an owner. But a lot of people don’t understand, man, it’s not easy. It’s not easy, you know, you’re taking a chance and drafting kids and you know signing people in free agency and you know you just don’t know how things are going to pan out, you know? You just, you basing on their talent, you basing on what you feel like the potential can be sometimes, it works, sometimes it doesn’t. And I think he just gets a lot of scrutiny from that.”
“And I mean obviously he ain’t going to live up to being anything else in life outside of being the man who he is in a game of basketball. He’s the GOAT, and especially for me, you know, he’s the GOAT. So he can’t, anything he do ain’t going to live up to that. But you know, just people always got a lot of negativity to say when it comes to him as a basketball owner.”
Felton was drafted from Jordan’s Alma mater North Carolina Tar Heels, in 2005. During his fourth year in the league, Jordan bought a stake in the ownership of the Bobcats which he only sold recently. In 2023, when Jordan finally sold his stake in the Hornets, it was valued at $3 billion.
The Charlotte Hornets had a 467-638 record between the 2009-10 and 2022-23 seasons. That’s a .400 team, which does not suit the stature of someone regarded as the GOAT. They made the Playoffs twice in that stretch, and both times were first-round exits in the Playoffs. Therefore, his tenure as an owner has come under a lot of criticism. His contributions to the sport are so great that nothing he can do now can supersede that.
Jordan is returning to the NBA as part of his deal with NBC for their NBA coverage next season. Even as a media member, he is prone to face severe criticism for his opinions and takes on situations. No one knows basketball better than the greatest of all time; maybe his career as a media figure will not be as much under scrutiny as his ownership career had been.
