It sounded like something the acerbic Jordan might have said, he never denied it, and he did steer clear of Gantt and other divisive issues despite calls for him to embrace the leverage he possessed as the nation’s most iconic athlete across the 1990s.
Even so, he is still a barrier crasher, a role model, a change agent. Jordan’s extraordinary journey has taken him from a modest upbringing to an ownership fraternity that includes the prodigiously wealthy Steve Ballmer, Mark Cuban and Mikhail Prokhorov.
And Jordan is significant in another way, too. Starting with him, the stakes and opportunities became very different for contemporary athletes from what they were for Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown and others so admired for being outspokenly audacious in turbulent times. They didn’t have lifestyles more akin to owners or the deep pockets with which to underwrite effective foundations or a charter school.
That has all changed — African-Americans now buy N.B.A. franchises, too. The very best players, the true revenue generators and league standard-bearers, can aspire to more than drawing up X’s and O’s, or shouting praise for the next generation from a broadcast seat.
Don’t think fronting an ownership group at some future date hasn’t occurred to LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul, all in the news recently for following Carmelo Anthony’s lead in calling for athletes to speak out against gun violence after the latest police shootings of black males and the retaliatory targeting of police officers in Dallas.
Unlike Anthony and his buddies, Jordan has an establishment voice, though he uses it hesitatingly, still in detached character.
In late April, a month after the so-called “bathroom law” was signed into effect by Gov. Pat McCrory of North Carolina, Jordan issued a statement on the matter after being pursued by The Charlotte Observer.
It read: “As my organization has stated previously, the Charlotte Hornets and Hornets Sports & Entertainment are opposed to discrimination in any form, and we have always sought to provide an inclusive environment. As has been the case since the building opened, we will continue to ensure that all fans, players and employees feel welcome while at work or attending N.B.A. games and events at Time Warner Cable Arena.”
Nowhere was Jordan’s personal opinion, or objection. Outsports.com, a self-described “voice for L.G.B.T. athletes,” called the statement “weak,” but added, “At least it’s something.” Walking that fine inoffensive line obviously remains for Jordan the businessman a much trickier proposition than defying gravity as Air Jordan.
Five years ago, his team, mired in years of dubious management and desultory play, averaged 14,767 fans per game, 25th best in the league. This past season, the improved Hornets pulled in 17,485 fans per game, ranking 18th.
The growth isn’t earth-shattering, but it is substantial. The Hornets have been operationally ascendant, and the N.B.A.’s decision to take the 2017 All-Star Game elsewhere can’t possibly be helpful.
In these maddeningly polarized times, the stand taken by Silver and the league is bold and righteous, but it is also not without risk. It didn’t take long, in scrolling down the comments section of a New York Times article by Scott Cacciola and Alan Blinder about the N.B.A.’s move, to find readers who claimed to disavow the league for its latest push into politics.
The N.B.A. has long been a social trendsetter in American sports. Even its women’s annex, the W.N.B.A., captured a recent news cycle or two when some of its players wore warm-up shirts decrying the gun violence. The league promptly fined several players and teams for violating uniform policy, the same issue that Silver expressed concern about last week in Las Vegas.
For the W.N.B.A., and for Silver, it wasn’t about free speech. It was about contracts. The league, like Jordan, has agreements to fulfill on how it appears in public.
To make sure we understood there were no double standards, Silver said: “I am absolutely in favor of players speaking out and speaking from the heart about whatever issues are important to them.”
That is admirable but also probably reviewable, case by case. What if Anthony, James, Paul and Wade had gone to the ESPYs and taken an edgier stand? What if they had condemned only the shootings by the police?
These questions rise to Silver’s pay grade because franchise owners typically worry about their own problems. If they were all injected with truth serum, who knows what the consensus would be on the North Carolina law, or how much they would be willing to risk in opposing it?
Silver guided them through a predicament they didn’t create, the league having awarded the game to Charlotte before the law was passed. He came to his decision Thursday with patience and intelligence, mindful of the N.B.A.’s deserved reputation as the country’s most progressive professional sports league.
In moving the game, he also left the door open to a possible rescheduling in 2019, pending a resolution of the issue, a passing of the storm. But in the interim, maybe it’s Jordan’s turn. Let him lead the lobbying effort with the obdurate politicians.
He’s the local hero. It’s his team. And who, after all, is a better pitchman than he is?
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