Plenty of NBA owners claim to be hands-on, but there's typically only so much they can do. NBA teams are expensive, and accumulating the sort of wealth it takes to purchase one typically takes decades. Therefore, the majority of NBA owners are older, and most lack high-level playing experience. Therefore, a hands-on owner typically means one who is active in front office management.
But Michael Jordan was an exception on both counts. Jordan, arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, became the majority owner of the then-Charlotte Bobcats in February 2010, right around his 47th birthday. He wasn't quite as nimble as he was during his playing days, but this is Michael Jordan we're talking about here. Even physically compromised, he was still capable of working with his players on the floor. Sometimes, that just meant tips and guidance in a practice setting.
But occasionally, Jordan would prove that he could still lace 'em up and step on the floor with players decades younger than him. On Wednesday, The Athletic's Mike Vorkunov published a detailed oral history of Michael Jordan's tenure as owner of the Bobcats/Hornets, which ended over the summer. In that oral history, former Charlotte guard Gerald Henderson told a story that would be too unbelievable to be true... if the owner was anyone but Jordan. At one point in his Bobcats tenure, Jordan participated in a scrimmage between Charlotte's starters and reserves. Jordan played with the reserves, and not only did they win the game, but they did so on a game-winning shot by Jordan. Here is the story, as told by Henderson:
"He jumped on our second team. Our first team had like Stephen Jackson, Gerald Wallace, Ray Felton, and — who else started that year? — Boris Diaw. On our second team it was me, Derrick Brown, D.J. Augustin, maybe Tyrus (Thomas) and somebody else. He looked like prime Michael Jordan, without the quickness and the jumping ability. But it was just all MJ work. Talking smack the whole time.
He kept going back and forth with Stephen Jackson. Jack at that time was like a borderline All-Star. He had a really good season the season before and I think in the media he was talking about how he should have been an All-Star. I guess Jack went to the basket and throws up a shot and the coaches didn't call a foul. Jack yells out, "Yo, that's a foul," this and that.
MJ comes down and hits the game-winner. Game's over and Jack is still talking, "that's a foul." Jordan goes "The MFer ain't never been an All-Star but wants all the All-Star calls." We was like "Oh, s–t. Damn that was a little harsh."
Jackson played for the Bobcats between 2009 and 2011, meaning Jordan would have been between the ages of 46 and 48 when this occurred. No player has ever participated in an NBA game at the age of 46. Jackson, at the time, would have been in his early 30s. The majority of the team was even younger. It didn't matter because they were playing against Michael Jordan, who not only proved he could still play like he did in his prime, but talk trash just as easily as well.
Perhaps someday another player will be able to replicate Jordan's feats as a hands-on owner. LeBron James, for instance, has long expressed interest in owning an NBA team, and with rumors of expansion coming in the near future, he may well get his wish of running a new team in Las Vegas. But the odds of an owner in his late 40s ever staring down his team's best player in a scrimmage and beating him? Those seem far lower. There's only one Michael Jordan.
