To the surprise of countless NBA observers, Kwame Brown and Michael Jordan are together again.
A reunion that no one in the league expected after their well-chronicled difficulties in Washington will be taking place in Charlotte this season after Brown struck a one-year deal at the veteran minimum with the Jordan-owned Bobcats.
Mark Bartlestein, Brown's Chicago-based agent, told ESPN.com that the sides agreed to terms Monday after Brown played the past two seasons for the Detroit Pistons.
As a nine-year veteran, Brown will earn $1.3 million next season. The 6-foot-11, 270-pound Brown appeared in 48 games last season, averaging 3.3 points and 3.7 minutes in 13.8 minutes per game.
"He really wanted to take the challenge of playing again for Michael and playing for a top coach like Larry Brown," Bartelstein said. "I think it says a lot about Kwame that he wanted to go to Charlotte.
"The last few years have been difficult for him, but I think he's really excited to go there and try to create a new chapter in his career. He wants this opportunity to go back and prove something."
Brown became in 2001 the first high schooler in league history to be drafted No. 1 overall when Jordan, as president of basketball operations for the Washington Wizards, used his first draft pick as an executive on the Georgia teenager.
But the gamble worked out disastrously for both, with Brown chafing under the pressure of not only being drafted by Jordan but playing alongside him as a teammate when Jordan unretired and began his final comeback as a player shortly before Brown's rookie season.
With the drafting of Brown cited often as the prime misstep of what is generally regarded as an unsuccessful front-office tenure for Jordan, then-Wizards owner Abe Pollin abruptly cut ties with the future Hall of Famer after the 2002-03 season when Jordan hoped to return to his personnel role.
Kevin Eason is a freelance editorial cartoonist and Illustrator from New Jersey. His brand of satire covers news events in politics, entertainment, sports and much more. Follow him on Facebook.