Michael Jordan is seen for first time since $3BILLION Hornets sale with his bikini-clad wife Yvette Prieto in south of France

NBA legend Michael Jordan has been spotted for the first time since the eye-watering $3billion sale of his Charlotte Hornets was approved yesterday.

The Chicago Bulls legend, 60, has been vacationing around southern Europe with his stunning wife Yvette Prieto, 44, this summer and Villefranche-sur-Mer was the latest pitstop on the Mediterranean tour.

The $3billion sale of the Charlotte Hornets to a group led by Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin was approved by the NBA’s board of governors Sunday and Jordan appeared to celebrate his mega-money deal with a family swim in the South of France. 

Jordan was spotted relaxing with wife Yvette on a luxury yacht off the coast of the French Riviera town. 

The couple, who have been married for ten years, were seen chatting and laughing with friends and family. Interestingly, they appeared to be aboard the $115million M’Brace, a 74.5-meter vessel completed in 2018. The yacht has room for 12 guests in eight separate cabins, and also has its very own pool. 

Michael Jordan and Yvette Prieto seen swimming with their family off the coast of Villefranche-sur-Me

Michael Jordan’s wife Yvette Prieto rinses off after a dip in the Mediterranean while the Bulls legend attempts to dry himself  

Michael Jordan is seen getting a kiss on the cheek while sitting behind his bikini-clad wife, Yvette Prieto, off the French coast

Michael Jordan and his wife Yvette Prieto are seen talking aboard a yacht in the south of France with some other vacationers

Michael Jordan, wife Yvette Prieto, and another passenger are pictured aboard the vessel off the coast of France 

His Airness enjoys some wetness in the Mediterranean during his recent vacation in the South of France 

Jordan could later be seen playfully teasing Yvette as he appeared to jokingly threaten to push her into the water. 

The Hall of Famer then took a dip himself as he dived off the back of the mega-yacht into the sea. 

He had a paddle around before returning to the boat to dry off, while Yvette, who showed off her toned physique in an orange bikini, took an on-deck shower. 

Unwinding in a deck chair, Jordan enjoyed time with his family as one the couple’s twin daughters leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek. 

Yvette, who dazzled in a massive pair of diamond studs, could be seen beaming and laughing at the conversation between friends and family before cooling down in an AquaBanas inflatable off the side of the yacht. 

The family day out is the first time since the sale of his NBA franchise, the Hornets, was approved. 

The sale is expected to be finalized in the next several weeks, and Jordan will keep a minority stake in the club.

It was first reported back in March that Jordan was in talks to sell the team to Plotkin and Schnall. 

Prieto is Jordan’s second wife. The couple has been married for ten years and were regularly seen at Hornets games together

Jordan and Prieto chat aboard a yacht off the small town of Villefranche-sur-Mer near Nice, France 

Jordan, who was listed at 6-foot-6 and 210 pounds in his playing days, is seen climbing aboard the vessel after swimming

Prieto, Jordan and another man are seen chitchatting with some swimmers in the south of France 

Michael Jordan alternated between a deck chair aboard the yacht and some swimming in the Mediterranean on the trip 

Jordan bought the majority stake in his home state’s NBA team for $275 million in 2010. 

The Hornets are currently valued by Forbes at $1.7 billion – 27th among NBA teams, and a $1.3 billion improvement over the last decade. 

Considered by many to be the NBA’s greatest player ever, Jordan is currently the NBA’s only African-American owner. 

But the success Jordan enjoyed over six NBA championships and five MVP awards has failed to translate into success as an owner. Charlotte has been one of the league’s worst performing teams throughout his time in charge.

Outside of the name change from the Bobcats to the Hornets in 2015, Jordan’s tenure as Hornets owner has been anything but memorable.

Charlotte has enjoyed just three winning seasons and only two playoff berths since Jordan became majority owner. 

Last week, Jordan and his family were also seen on the yacht, cooling down amid the European heatwave (not pictured) 

Yvette Prieto, 44, was seen smiling and laughing throughout their luxurious day off the coast of southern France 

Yvette Prieto was born in Cuba but raised in nearby Miami. She previously dated singer Julio Iglesias Jr. in the early 2000s

Jordan appeared to be using a yacht known as the M’Brace, which was first owned by Britain’s Sir Lloyd Marshall Dorfman

Last week, Jordan and his family were also seen on the yacht, cooling down amid the European heatwave. 

Jordan was pictured sat at his dining table with his children while Yvette was seen walking around the yacht in her workout clothes.

A week earlier, he was pictured at dinner with Magic Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson at the famous Lemon Tree restaurant in Capri.

The three friends were hilariously serenaded by the restaurant band and Johnson shared an amusing video of himself and Jordan smiling along as the band played to them. 

‘Tonight we enjoyed an incredible dinner at the world-famous Da Paolino Ristorante AKA the lemon tree restaurant in Capri, Italy,’ Johnson wrote in an Instagram post.

‘AND I got to hang out with my great friend and the greatest basketball player to ever live, Michael Jordan, and his wife Yvette, Sam (Samuel L Jackson) and LaTanya Jackson, Judge Greg and Linda Mathis, and John and Vicki Palmer.’ 

Jordan and wife Prieto typically tend to keep a low profile. 

The couple met in a Miami nightclub in 2008, with Jordan proposing to the Cuban-born model three years later. 

They married in 2013 and a year later they welcomed their daughters, now nine.

Before heading to Italy, MJ and Yvette were in Paris and were filmed leaving a restaurant when Jordan was asked if he approves of his son Marcus, 32, dating Larsa Pippen – the 49-year-old ex-wife of Jordan’s Bulls teammate Scottie Pippen.

With a laugh, he said: ‘No!’. 

Jordan appears to be using a Seabob, which is a motorized device that can pull a swimmer along the water’s surface 

Michael Jordan is pictured grimacing in the water while vacationing this week off the coast of Villefranche-sur-Mer

It’s not clear

Michael Jordan is pictured enjoying a drink aboard the M’Brace with his wife, Yvette Prieto (far right) 

Yvette Prieto laughs while her husband Michael Jordan points out something in the waters off of Villefranche-sur-Mer

The $115million M’Brace has room for 12 guests in eight cabins as well as a pool, which appeared to go unused by Jordan 

Then, on a recent episode of Marcus and Larsa’s podcast, both halves of the couple shared their unfiltered reactions to Michael’s remark.

On the one hand, Marcus was ‘dying laughing’ at Michael’s comment, which was ‘hilarious to me’ because ‘I know my dad, right?’

Larsa on the other hand ‘didn’t think it was funny,’ found ‘nothing funny about it’ and seemed bemused that Marcus saw the humor in the situation.

Marcus explained that ‘my whole family, we’re all competitive. The Jordans, like, part of our DNA is to talk s***, you know? And it gets us going. It gets us motivated.’

When he got wind of what Michael said about Larsa, he ‘immediately I thought: “Like, he’s playing. he’s being jov- joking, he’s laughing. He’s, you know, just being playful.’

Marcus waggishly added that his father might have been ‘a little lit’ off tequila at the Paris restaurant Matignon the night of his viral dig at Larsa.