Michael Jordan's Sale of Hornets Reportedly Approved by NBA's Board of Governors

Michael Jordan's tenure as the majority governor with the Charlotte Hornets has reportedly nearing an end.

The NBA's Board of Governors approved Jordan's sale of the franchise to a group led by businessmen Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Wojnarowski also reported the New York Knicks' James Dolan was the only governor to oppose the sale:

Schnall and Plotkin reportedly purchased the team at a $3 billion valuation and the sale will be completed sometime in the next couple of weeks. Jordan was the majority governor of the organization for 13 years, paying $275 million for it back in 2010.

Jordan first agreed to the sale back on June 16 and was just waiting on the rest of the governors' approval to make things official and complete the deal.

Schnall and Plotkin both have experience with NBA franchises, having minority stakes in the Hawks and Hornets, respectively. They will both become Charlotte's new governors once the sale gets finalized.

Plotkin, founder and chief investment officer of Melvin Capital, previously bought a stake in the Hornets back in 2020.

As for Schnall, co-president at private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in New York, he's had a much longer run in NBA business, being a part of the group that bought the Hawks back in 2015 for $850 million, a much smaller scale than the deal he just completed.

With it being a little over a month since the sale was first announced, Jordan remained in charge of basketball operations through the draft and beginning of free agency, making the huge call of taking Brandon Miller at No. 2 overall.

In his 13 years as governor, Jordan—widely considered the greatest basketball player of all-time—failed to build a contender in Charlotte. Since 2010, the Hornets have only made the playoffs three times, never making it past the first round.

Jordan will keep a minority stake and maintain a presence with the franchise, per Wojnarowski.