Michael Jordan, widely described as the greatest basketball player of all time, has no desire to move into coaching and would rather own an NBA franchise.

"My next goal is to own a basketball team, buy a basketball team, not coach," the five-times NBA most valuable player told a news conference on Thursday. "I don't have the patience for coaching."

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Last year, Jordan negotiated to buy the Milwaukee Bucks and to take a minority stake in the expansion of Charlotte Bobcats, but both times came away empty-handed.

Asked if he would make another comeback as a player, the 41-year-old, who has retired from the sport three times, grinned and said: "No."

Jordan was in Beijing to promote his line of clothing after staying largely out of the limelight since his final game with the Washington Wizards in 2003.

He is idolised in China, where the so-called "flying man" was instrumental in basketball's rise in popularity in the 1990s.

The hero-worship got out of hand on Wednesday, when police cancelled an outdoor ceremony Jordan was supposed to attend after some of 1,000 crowd tore down advertising banners, trampled flowerbeds and climbed on to a car to get a better view.

In response to the cancellation, the fans, blocked a sidewalk and cursed police.

Beijing newspapers devoted several pages to the incident on Thursday but neither Jordan nor Nike officials commented on the cancellation.