CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Bob Johnson is prepared to wait until July -- or perhaps even longer -- for Michael Jordan to decide if he wants to join Charlotte's expansion NBA franchise.

Johnson said Thursday he recently gave Jordan his sales pitch, telling him the "door is wide open'' for Jordan to come to Charlotte as a minority owner, team president, or both.

Jordan, however, told Johnson he needs time to decide his next move. Jordan parted ways with the Washington Wizards last week when majority owner Abe Pollin decided he didn't want Jordan back in a front office role.

"Michael said he has to be deliberate about looking at other options,'' Johnson said. "He told me he has to take these other calls. ... But I've made up my mind, he's welcome as a part owner, team president, whatever he wants.''

All of the options available to Jordan are not publicly known, but no one is wooing Jordan as vocally as Johnson.

As soon as his split with Washington was official, Johnson made it clear Jordan could have any job he wanted with the team that begins play in the 2004-05 season. Jordan has been the talk of the town since, even overshadowing Johnson's $1 million donation Thursday to build a new YMCA in Charlotte.

Johnson and vice president Ed Tapscott want to hire a head of basketball operations this summer, and ideally would like Jordan's decision by then. They anticipate candidates for front office roles will be on the job market after the June draft, and they don't want to miss out on the right people because they were waiting for Jordan.

"If it gets to be July 1 and Michael said `I need another 10 days' and if we had made a decision with some other individual, we still would make room for Michael,'' Johnson said.

Johnson believes Charlotte is the best fit for Jordan because as an expansion team, Jordan would be able to build it as he wanted. Part of the reason Jordan might have struggled as an executive in Washington, Johnson believes, is because he had to work within a system that was already in place and with an owner he didn't always see eye-to-eye with.

"There were inherent flaws in the way things went with the Wizards,'' Johnson said. "He understands that having a clean slate gives him the ability to pick his own guys, and that is clearly attractive to him.''