ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith: Michael Jordan ‘live your best life’ after Charlotte Hornets sale

After months of rumors, news broke Friday that Michael Jordan was selling his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets after 13 years of ownership.

The Hornets confirmed that current Hornets minority owner Gabe Plotkin and Atlanta Hawks minority owner Rick Schnall will acquire a majority stake in the team. Jordan will retain a minority stake in the team, which Forbes estimated was worth $1.7 billion last year. That is No. 27 among all NBA franchises. Golden State, worth an estimated $7 billion, is No 1.

The buyer group will also include North Carolina natives recording artist J. Cole and country music singer-songwriter Eric Church, and several local Charlotte investors, including Amy Levine Dawson and Damian Mills.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported the sale will be for about $3 billion.

“I’m happy for him,” ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith said on “First Take.” “I just think that Michael Jordan is at a certain point in life where he made a go at it ... it was pivotal for him to be in that position. We know he hasn’t had the level of success that all of us would wish he would’ve had as an owner. He struggled a lot in Charlotte — smaller market, people looked at him not wanting to pay X amount of dollars, because obviously you’re not going to be able to afford to do much because you’re generating but so much money down there in Charlotte. Maybe somebody will do a better job in that regard.”

Smith went onto say the entire NBA owed Jordan a big debt of gratitude.

“There’s three people that are most responsible for the NBA being in the position it is today,” Smith said. “Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and then Jordan took it another level. I will always speak about him with deference and reverence, because he’s that special, he’s that great. I just want him to be happy. He’ll have a minority stake. Let somebody else do it. Live your best life.”

Social Media Reactions

▪ A lot of fans were sharing a once-viral video of Jordan’s displeasure with former Hornet and current Sacramento guard Malik Monk.

▪ All reactions, of course, were not positive, with many sites and fans taking shots at Jordan’s lack of of-court success as an owner.

▪ Below are other reactions we found: