On Thursday, June 15, Bobcats Majority Owner Robert L. Johnson announced that he would enter into a venture with Michael Jordan to invest in business opportunities in media, entertainment and financial services. As part of Jordan’s investment in Johnson’s existing portfolio, Jordan will become the largest individual owner of the Bobcats after Johnson. Jordan will become the Managing Member of Basketball Operations for the Bobcats ownership group. The following is player reaction from Bobcats "G-Force" Gerald Wallace and Raymond Felton about the addition of Jordan:
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(On Michael Jordan becoming a part owner) We welcome him to the Charlotte Bobcats organization. He provides a great asset to our team. It’s great to have Michael Jordan aboard, and we welcome him to the team.
(On when he found out about the change) I think I found out when I walked into the arena.
(On his reaction) It’s good. But that is the front office. I don’t have anything to do with the front office. I come out and work hard every day on the basketball court. Everything that goes on up there is between those guys.
Bobcats guard Raymond Felton
(On his thoughts about Michael Jordan becoming a part owner) What can I say? He’s a Carolina guy. Michael is a great guy, and he’s known as the best player to play this game. Like Gerald said, he’s a big asset to this team. It’s going to be a lot of help; he’s going to be a guy that will probably come down and talk junk to us and mess with us. He’s a great man.
(On if Jordan will give the team a boost) It’s not going to hurt us. It’s definitely not going to hurt us. We’re going to be ready to come out each and every game this year anyway. We ended the season the way we wanted to, and now we have everybody healthy. Gerald (Wallace) is healthy, Emeka (Okafor) is healthy, Sean (May) is healthy. We’re going to come out hard and be ready to play. Adding Michael to our team is going to definitely help us.
(On if Jordan will push them) I think he will. I think he’ll come in and mess with us. He might even practice with us sometimes.
(On Jordan’s competitiveness) I’m all about that. Just speaking about two guys, Gerald and myself, we’re definitely competitive guys. We’re coming out, and we want to win. We’re going to do whatever it takes.
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