Michael Jordan is known for many things at this point: his basketball career, his brand of shoes, his basketball team (the Charlotte Hornets), and countless others. But one of his ventures has apparently gotten in the way of another, per Darren Rovell:
NBA says MJ can't choose who gets a Jordan shoe deal because of cap rules. (At least 6 Hornets have gotten Jordan deals in last 7 years.)
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) August 25, 2015
This is related to what got the Los Angeles Clippers fined from their negotiations with DeAndre Jordan. Because Michael owns the Hornets, he is in a position to negotiate with players in free agency. And because he’s an executive with Jordan Brand, he’s in a position to offer sponsorship deals. Commissioner Adam Silver has made it clear that NBA teams cannot use third-party deals (like the promise of corporate sponsorships) to sign its players — all the perks of a contract have to be something the team can give you directly (like the best parking spot, or a promise you don’t have to play center).
Rovell points out that six different Hornets (or pre-name change Bobcats) signed with Jordan Brand in the past seven years, and according to CBS Sports, there are actually seven:
Bismack Biyombo (now in Toronto), Stephen Jackson (now retired), Gerald Henderson (now in Portland), Gerald Wallace (now in Philadelphia), and Noah Vonleh (also in Portland) are all former Charlotte players who have been signed with Jordan brand. Currently, Cody Zeller and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist are Jordan brand athletes on the Hornets’ roster.
Nothing about this was improper, especially since Zeller, Gilchrist, Biyombo and Henderson were all Charlotte draft picks, which means that they were already on the team when they signed and no free agent negotiations were tainted. *While this might seem like breaking news, the rule has been in place since 2010 and Jordan Brand negotiations with athletes have been conducted by a different executive since then.
In fact, Rovell was just re-appropriating information from a piece he first published with ESPN in 2013.
*An earlier version of his piece failed to note how long the NBA’s rule had been in place, implying that Jordan had only recently been forbid from negotiating with individual players for Jordan Brand. This is not the case.
(Via Darren Rovell and CBS Sports)
