Charlotte Hornets next franchise up for sale?

[JDR720]

More than likely it'll be Tepper. Which is good because he is super rich. But bad because he isn't a good owner either.

If I had to pick a foreign investor, I'll go with the UAE.

[JDR720]

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2022/11/16/charlotte-hornets-nba-investors.html

Paywalled article, but the headline is interesting enough.

https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/charlotte-hornets-investors-wall-street-cold-streak-may-sell-nba-stakes/53ITDMU5JZEDLC72UE6LDHWSPY/

[Braggins]

If someone could buy these shares and enough of MJ's stake to get a controlling interest, then MJ as a minority owner could be in his proper role as basically a secondary mascot to use to promote the team. MJ could easily spin it as a win since from a business perspective hed make out like a bandit, while sidestepping any future blame for organizational failures. If he managed to get a guarantee to keep the team in Charlotte as part of the deal then he could go from villain to hero to the fanbase pretty quickly.

Hopefully a new owner could make steps to bring the franchise up to par with the rest of the league and cleaning out Jordans cronies alone would be significant progress. Too bad this couldn't all be arranged before the draft, so hopefully they win the lottery so there isn't any room to screw up the next big decision.

[Hornet Mania]

The only thing that matters to me is the team staying and Charlotte and retaining the Hornets identity. I can't imagine MJ relinquishing control unless he's totally getting out though. The man can't be bothered to do the legwork but he clearly likes having final say and appointing his friends and family in positions of influence.

A bit OT, but I also have to disagree with the comment that Tepper is a bad owner.

Tepper's ability is TBD because unless you have a solid QB teams in the NFL are rarely going to crack 6 wins. I'm not a huge fan of Tepper's, mostly because he has an incredibly thin skin during public appearances, but he's been a mixed bag thus far. Hiring Rhule was a fail, but the front office rebuilding the defense (which is where all our quality picks aside from Icky were used) has been a big success. The team is undoubtedly on better footing than they were at the end of 2019.

Jerry Richardson was also routinely called the worst owner in football between 98-01 but all that was completely forgotten once the team found success with decent (Delhomme) and later MVP-caliber (Cam) QBs. People give too much credit to owners for good or ill, really being a decent NFL owner just comes down to finding a QB and not forcing the front office to make big splashes in free agency which never work in that sport. I suppose we could fault the Tepper regime for not going all-in on a star QB right away, but imagine trading three 1sts for Trey Lance or Russell Wilson, now that would have been a real franchise-crippling catastrophe.

[nature_boyy97]

More than likely it'll be Tepper.

Don't put this into the universe.

[yosemiteben]

NBA TV rights are up in 2025, seems extraordinarily unlikely that a majority owner of a team voluntarily sells their stake before then.

[amcoolio]

Simmons is more connected than you guys think! +1 for the 3 month scoop