North Caroline native J. Cole is a member of the buyers group who just purchased a majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets basketball team. Chairman and former NBA great Michael Jordan has reached an agreement to sell his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets to the unnamed group led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall. Plotkin, who acquired a minority stake in the Hornets in 2019, has been an alternate governor on the NBA Board of Governors since 2019.
The buyers group also includes several Charlotte-based investors, including Cole and county superstar Eric Church. Other minority owners of the Hornets include Chris Shumway, Dan Sundheim, Ian Loring, Amy Levine Dawson and Damian Mills.
If the deal is approved by the NBA Board of Governors, Jordan will retain a minority ownership share of the team . The deal also includes acquiring ownership of Greensboro Swarm (NBA G League) and Hornets Venom GT (NBA 2K League), as well as managing and operating Spectrum Center.
J. Cole has been a fixture in NBA circles for years; he performed at the 2019 All-Star Game in Charlotte (wearing a throwback Hornets jacket). In 2020, Cole announced that he planned to play professional basketball, signing a contract with the Rwanda-based Patriots Basketball Club in the Basketball Africa League (he left the team after playing three games).
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