CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Michael Jordan said Sunday that he’s 100 percent committed to the Charlotte Bobcats and has no intention of selling the struggling NBA franchise.
The Bobcats have lost 12 of their last 14 games and own the league’s worst record at 7-43, but Jordan says he isn’t ready to bail out on the team after the Hall of Famer bought control of the organization from Bob Johnson in March 2010.
The New York Daily News reported Sunday that Jordan has contemplated selling if the team doesn’t turn things around _ both in performance and profitability.
“I was disturbed to hear the false report that I intend to sell my majority interest in the Charlotte Bobcats,” Jordan said in a statement. “I am 100 percent committed to building the Bobcats into a contender and have no plans to sell the team.”
The Bobcats are clearly in a rebuilding mode and it will likely take some time to turn them into a contender. The team traded away veteran stars Gerald Wallace and Stephen Jackson with the hope of rebuilding through young talent.
They’re now looking to build the franchise around lottery picks Kemba Walker and Bismack Biyombo, as well as young players such as Gerald Henderson, D.J. Augustin and Byron Mullens. The process has been a painful one for coach Paul Silas, whose contract is up in July.
The Bobcats are on pace to finish with the second-worst point differential per game since 1976, losing by an average of 13.1 points. The only NBA team with a worse mark than the Bobcats is the 1992-93 Dallas Mavericks (15.2 ppg).
The only positive is the Bobcats are practically guaranteed to earn one of the first four picks in the NBA draft. If they finish with the NBA’s worst record they will have a 25 percent chance in the draft lottery of landing the No. 1 pick _ possibly Kentucky’s Anthony Davis, the AP Player of the Year.
Jordan recently has made efforts to help the community, and even agreed to a sponsorship deal with a local hospital in Charlotte. He has donated money to area projects to support school systems and battle hunger, calling the initiative “Cats Care.”
He has said repeatedly that he believes strongly in making an impact in Charlotte and the surrounding community through his position as Bobcats owner.
Although the team’s financial situation has improved since Jordan took over the franchise, Forbes magazine recently estimated the Bobcats are losing more than $10 million annually.
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