Rap king J. Cole is set to become a Charlotte Hornets owner and fans are geeked
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Michael Jordan sells the Hornets
Michael Jordan’s tenure as the majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets is coming to an end. Jordan is selling a large part of his stake in the franchise to a group that includes Hornets minority owner Gabe Plotkin and Atlanta Hawks minority owner Rick Schnall.
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Once upon a time, North Carolina native and Grammy-winning rapper J. Cole was a pretty good basketball player.
Now, he’ll own an NBA team.
On Friday, the Charlotte Hornets announced that MIchael Jordan was selling the franchise he had owned for 13 years. The new ownership group is led by current Hornets minority owner Gabe Plotkin and Atlanta Hawks minority owner Rick Schnall, who 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.
Cole — along with country music singer-songwriter Eric Church, who grew up in Granite Falls and graduated from Appalachian State — will be among a group of minority owners. Cole’s fans took to social media Friday and seemed to be pretty excited about the entire idea.
Cole, 38, has loved the game his whole life.
He played high school basketball at Fayetteville’s Terry Sanford High and after earning an academic scholarship to St. John’s, he tried out for the college team as a walk-on. Cole made the final 10 out of a group of more than 70 players. In interviews, Cole said he wasn’t cut but decided to not play because he wasn’t ready for the time commitment.
He did practice with the women’s team and played intramural basketball, and in 2021, Cole briefly played professional basketball in Africa.
Now, he’ll be an actual NBA owner in the town where he once performed at halftime of the NBA All-Star Game.
This story was originally published June 16, 2023 at 12:12 PM.
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