Michael Jordan Was Inches Away from Buying the Milwaukee Bucks in 2003

Michael Jordan is close to finalizing a deal that will make him $3 billion richer. His Airness is parting ways with his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets. It is a huge deal that will see MJ make a huge return on investment on the $275 million he initially spent to buy the team in 2010. However, a lot of people would be surprised to know that Jordan almost invested in the Milwaukee Bucks before he even thought about buying the Bobcats (now Hornets).

In 2003, the six-time NBA Champion was dismissed from his role as the President of the Washington Wizards. Jordan wanted to re-transition as a front office executive after his retirement as a Wizard. However, his reign at the helm of the franchise was a disaster. Therefore, he was fired from the role.

Subsequently, MJ entered the market looking to buy his own NBA franchise.

In 2003, MJ was presented with an intriguing offer. He had the chance to invest in the Milwaukee Bucks.

At the time, the Bucks were valued at $168 million and were looking for new investors. Jordan was mildly interested but did not want to invest large sums of his own money. Instead, he was interested in joining an investment group, one he could hopefully lead as the face. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned.

“After suffering the humiliation of being dismissed by Wizards owner Abe Pollin after a three-year run as a player and a team president in 2003, Jordan wanted his next involvement in the NBA to be as something more than an employee,” a Sports Illustrated report from 2006 noted.

“But Jordan, who came close to buying into the Milwaukee Bucks in 2003, didn’t want to invest huge sums of his own money, preferring to serve as front man for an investment group. That’s exactly what he’s doing with the Bobcats, who agreed to cede him a lot of influence for a relatively small sum of money,” the report added.

Fast forward 19 years, and the Bucks are now valued by Forbes at a whopping $2.3 billion. A huge jump from the measly $168 million valuation in 2003. A lot of that can be ascribed to the arrival of Greek superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.

However, Jordan’s decision makes sense. He didn’t have a lot of things in common with the Milwaukee franchise. On the other hand, Charlotte was his home city, close to where he grew up in North Carolina.

Jordan is all set to sell the Charlotte Hornets for $3 billion

After 13 years as the majority shareholder of the Charlotte Hornets, Michael Jordan is almost done finalizing its sale. MJ will sell his majority stake to minority shareholders Gabe Plotkin and Nick Schall. The move marks the end of an era for both the Hornets and Jordan.

Many may wonder what Jordan’s tenure would have been like if he had invested in the Bucks instead of the Hornets. But there can be no denying that his influence has helped the Hornets franchise in a lot of ways.