Shortly after a reports emerged Thursday detailing that Michael Jordan is involved in “serious talks” to sell his majority stake in the Hornets, Colin Cowherd of Fox Sports roasted the six-time NBA star on his podcast.
Perhaps that’s not too surprising, considering that the Hornets have not won a playoff series since Jordan joined the franchise in 2010. But Cowherd, who is well known for his controversial takes, didn’t just criticize Jordan’s ownership tenure. Instead, Cowherd spoke about myriad aspects of Jordan’s career and called him a “selfish guy.”
“He tried baseball. He failed. He tried ownership. He was awful. He tried the Wizards. It bombed,” Cowherd said on The Volume. “Everybody understand, that take out Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson, this whole Michael Jordan mythology is sort of just that.
“He’s arguably the greatest basketball player of all-time,” Cowherd continued. “… Michael was always a bit of a selfish player. He’s a bit of a selfish guy. And, he’s not great at building community. He’s great at building wealth for Michael Jordan. That’s fine. It’s not a criticism, it’s a reality of who Michael is.”
Jordan, along with Pippen and Jackson as Cowherd mentioned, helped the Bulls win six NBA championships over the course of his 13 seasons with the team.
The criticisms Cowherd discussed included Jordan’s one-year stint in Double-A baseball with the White Sox’s farm system in 1994. Although he didn’t advance in the system, Jordan finished the season with 88 hits, three home runs, 51 RBIs and a .202 batting average, which many consider an accomplishment because Jordan wasn’t solely dedicated to baseball until that season.
The “bombing” of Jordan’s Wizards run came in 2001 after Jordan had been retired for three seasons. Even though the NBA star didn’t lead Washington to the playoffs those two seasons, he did earn All-Star recognition both years.
As for his Hornets ownership run, Jordan remains the only Black majority owner of any professional team in North American sports in the past 13 years. During his tenure there, the Hornets have gone 418–594 under six different coaches since the 2010–11 season. The team has made two playoff appearances since then.