Any kind of personal political comment — even one as moderate as the statement released Monday — is a rarity for Mr. Jordan, who has a long history of staying away from contentious political issues. In April, after being asked about his stance on the transgender bathroom debate in North Carolina, the state where he was raised, he issued an impersonal statement on behalf of the team.

“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,” the statement said.

A defining incident for critics of Mr. Jordan’s avoidance of politics came in 1990 when Mr. Jordan, then a superstar player with the Chicago Bulls, declined to support the Senate candidate Harvey Gantt in his race in North Carolina against Jesse Helms, the conservative incumbent. Had Mr. Gantt won, he would have been the first African-American elected to the Senate from the South since Reconstruction.

An anonymous source in “Second Coming,” a 1995 book by Sam Smith, quoted Mr. Jordan as saying that he had stayed away from endorsing Mr. Gantt because “Republicans buy shoes, too.” The statement was never definitively attributed to Mr. Jordan, but for many critics, it became emblematic of his business-first attitude.

Mr. Jordan has helped break down racial barriers in the business world. He was the second African-American to become the majority owner of an N.B.A. franchise (as well as the first former player). Within his various business ventures, he has a reputation for hiring other black executives.

In 2014, the ESPN columnist Scoop Jackson defended Mr. Jordan from critics who ripped the former athlete for neglecting to speak then about the killings of black men by police officers.