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2-6 God and lifelong Hornets fan J. Cole is officially now a part-owner of the Charlotte Hornets after purchasing Michael Jordan’s majority stake in the organization.
The Hornets released a statement on Friday, June 16, revealing the lethal lyricist as part of The Buyer Group — led by Gabe Plotkin, already a minority owner within the Hornets, Rick Schnall, previously a minority owner with the Atlanta Hawks, and country singer Eric Church — who reportedly purchased the franchise from Jordan for $3 billion.
Michael Jordan bought the team in 2010 for $275 million and will hold onto a minority stake in the organization.
Even with the finest-toothed comb, it is difficult to find trades or seasons of consequence or meaningfulness during Jordan’s Queen City reign.
Across his painful 13 seasons in control, the Hornets posted a record of 423-600 which was good enough to rank 26th out of 30 teams in the league during that time.
The Hornets mainly traded one bad contract for another, often recycling players who failed previously in Charlotte.
The Jordan era produced three playoff appearances, all first-round exits, two of them sweeps.
Many years removed from Mecklenburg County memories of Mugsy Bogues, Larry Johnson, Glen Rice, Dell Curry, and Alonzo Mourning, Hornets fans haven’t had much to cheer about since Jordan purchased the team.
Yahoo! Sports reports their seven-year playoff drought is the NBA’s longest after the Sacramento Kings reached the postseason last year for the first time since 2006. Charlotte and the Minnesota Timberwolves are otherwise tied for the fewest playoff victories (three) since Jordan joined the Hornets’ ownership group 17 years ago.
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From fade-aways on Forest Hills Dr. to outreached rebounds in Rwanda, J. Cole’s surrounded himself with the game of basketball on every conceivable level.
In 2021, although the Miami Heat had been eyeing Guard Caleb Martin (then-free agent) for some time, Miami’s decision-makers were spurred to finally bring Martin in thanks to Cole.
Martin was a standout talent in this year’s historic Heat playoff and Finals run.
Not to mention he’s had a longtime fan in the NBA’s leading scorer, LeBron James, Jermaine has been the mane to many NBA players over the last decade.
Not only adorning the legendary cover of NBA 2K24, but unforgettably performing at the 2019 All-Star Game in Charlotte, Cole has always had a warm spot in his heart for hoops.
J. Cole has “a lot” going on
Cole made a special guest appearance at 21 Savage’s Birthday Bash show in Atlanta last weekend where he performed with hitmaker and fellow Grammy-winner 21 Savage.
The Dreamville boss proceeded to give the audience two more hits: his feature on Lil Durk’s “All My Life” followed by the 2014 Forest Hills Drive classic, “No Role Modelz.”
Longtime Dreamville artist Bas also recently teased via Twitter that he has a “summer heater” with J. Cole set to release soon.
After ripping through 2021 with ‘The Off-Season’ album, collaborating with his label artists in ‘D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape’ in 2022, and headlining his annual Dreamville Fest in April, Fayettenam’s own is set to continue making history in the studio, on the hardwood, and with the culture for a long time to come.