Michael Jordan

Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman, former professional basketball player, and former baseball player. He played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) between 1984 and 2003, winning six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls. Jordan is regarded as one of the most influential sports figures in history and is considered by many to be the greatest basketball player of all time; he was integral in popularizing the sport and the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.

Jordan played college basketball with the North Carolina Tar Heels. As a freshman, he was a member of the Tar Heels' national championship team in 1982. As a junior in 1984, he was named the national college player of the year and was selected by the Bulls with the third overall pick of the 1984 NBA draft. With the Bulls, he emerged as a league star known for prolific scoring, defensive prowess and vehement competitiveness. His leaping ability, demonstrated by performing slam dunks from the free-throw line in Slam Dunk Contests, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness". Jordan won his first NBA title with the Bulls in 1991 and followed that with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a three-peat.

Citing exhaustion from basketball and superstardom, Jordan abruptly retired before the 1993–94 NBA season to play Minor League Baseball in the Chicago White Sox organization. He returned to the Bulls in 1995 and led them to three more championships in 1996, 1997, and 1998, as well as a then-record 72 regular season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan retired for the second time in 1999, then returned for two NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Washington Wizards. He was selected to play for the United States national team during his college and NBA careers, winning four gold medals—at the 1983 Pan American Games, 1984 Summer Olympics, 1992 Tournament of the Americas and 1992 Summer Olympics—while also being undefeated.

Jordan's individual accolades include six NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards, 10 NBA scoring titles (both all-time records), five NBA MVP awards, an NBA Defensive Player of the Year award, 10 All-NBA First Team designations, nine All-Defensive First Team honors, 14 NBA All-Star Game selections, and three NBA All-Star Game MVP awards. He holds the NBA records for career regular season scoring average (30.1 points per game) and career playoff scoring average (33.4 points per game). He is one of only eight players to achieve the basketball Triple Crown. In 1999, Jordan was named the 20th century's greatest North American athlete by ESPN and was second on the Associated Press' list of athletes of the century. Jordan was twice inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, in 2009 for his individual career, and in 2010 as part of the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team ("The Dream Team"). The trophy for the NBA Most Valuable Player Award is named in his honor.

Michael Jeffrey Jordan was born on February 17, 1963, at Cumberland Hospital in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, to bank employee Deloris (née Peoples) and equipment supervisor James R. Jordan Sr. He has two older brothers, James Jr. and Larry, as well as an older sister named Deloris and a younger sister named Roslyn. Jordan and his siblings were raised Methodist.

In 1968, the family moved to Wilmington, North Carolina. Jordan attended Emsley A. Laney High School, where he played basketball, baseball, and football. He tried out for the basketball varsity team during his sophomore year, but at a height of 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m), he was deemed too short. Motivated to prove his worth, Jordan became the star of Laney's junior varsity team and tallied some 40-point games. The following summer, he grew four inches (10 cm) and trained rigorously. Upon earning a spot on the varsity roster, Jordan averaged more than 25 points per game (ppg) over his final two seasons of high school play. He also adopted his signature jersey number, 23. As a senior, he was selected for the 1981 McDonald's All-American Game and scored 30 points, after averaging 26.8 ppg, 11.6 rebounds (rpg), and 10.1 assists per game (apg) for the season.

Jordan was recruited by numerous college basketball programs, including Duke, North Carolina, South Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia, and Clemson. He reportedly most strongly considered recruiting efforts from North Carolina, NC State, and Maryland before, in 1980, he accepted a basketball scholarship to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he majored in cultural geography. He chose this field of study because of its relationship to meteorology, as Jordan was interested in a career as a meteorologist.

As a freshman under coach Dean Smith's team-oriented system, Jordan was named ACC Freshman of the Year after averaging 13.4 points per game on 53.4% shooting—ranking 10th in scoring and sixth in field goal percentage in the conference. He made the game-winning jump shot in the 1982 NCAA Championship game against Georgetown, which was led by future NBA rival Patrick Ewing. Jordan later described this shot as the major turning point in his basketball career. During his sophomore and junior seasons, Jordan consistently ranked among the ACC's elite, finishing either 1st or 2nd in both total points and points per game, while also placing in the top 10 in field goal percentage and free throw percentage. In his three seasons with the Tar Heels, Jordan averaged 17.7 ppg on 54.0% shooting and added 5.0 rpg and 1.8 apg.

Jordan was selected by consensus to the NCAA All-American First Team in both his sophomore (1983) and junior (1984) seasons. After winning the Naismith and the Wooden College Player of the Year awards in 1984, Jordan left North Carolina a year before his scheduled graduation to enter the 1984 NBA draft. Jordan returned to North Carolina to complete his degree in 1986, when he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in geography. In 2002, Jordan was selected to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team and named the greatest athlete in ACC history.

The Chicago Bulls selected Jordan with the third overall pick of the 1984 NBA draft after Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston Rockets) and Sam Bowie (Portland Trail Blazers). One of the primary reasons why Jordan was not drafted sooner was because the first two teams were in need of a center. Trail Blazers general manager Stu Inman contended that it was not a matter of drafting a center but more a matter of taking Bowie over Jordan, in part because Portland already had Clyde Drexler, who was a guard with similar skills to Jordan. Citing Bowie's injury-laden college career, ESPN named the Blazers' choice of Bowie as the worst draft pick in North American professional sports history.

Jordan made his NBA debut at Chicago Stadium on October 26, 1984, and scored 16 points. In 2021, a ticket stub from the game sold at auction for $264,000, setting a record for a collectible ticket stub. During his rookie 1984–85 season with the Bulls, Jordan averaged 28.2 ppg on 51.5% shooting. He helped the Bulls improve from 27–55 to 38–44 and qualify for the postseason for the first time since the 1980–81 season. Jordan quickly became a fan favorite even in opposing arenas. Roy S. Johnson of The New York Times described Jordan as "the phenomenal rookie of the Bulls" in November, and he appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the heading "A Star Is Born" in December. The fans voted in Jordan as an All-Star starter during his rookie season. Controversy arose before the 1985 NBA All-Star Game when word surfaced that several veteran players, led by Isiah Thomas, were upset by the amount of attention Jordan was receiving. This led to a so-called "freeze-out" on Jordan, where players refused to pass the ball to him. The controversy left Jordan relatively unaffected when he returned to regular season play, and he would go on to be voted the NBA Rookie of the Year. The Bulls lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in four games in the first round of the playoffs.

An often-cited moment was on August 26, 1985, when Jordan shook the arena during a Nike exhibition game in Trieste, Italy, by shattering the glass of the backboard with a dunk. The moment was filmed and is often referred to as an important milestone in Jordan's rise. The shoes Jordan wore during the game were auctioned in August 2020 for $615,000, a record for a pair of sneakers. Jordan's 1985–86 season was cut short when he broke his foot in the third game of the year, causing him to miss 64 games. The Bulls made the playoffs despite Jordan's injury and a 30–52 record, at the time the fifth-worst record of any team to qualify for the playoffs in NBA history. Jordan recovered in time to participate in the postseason and performed well upon his return. On April 20 at the Boston Garden, in Game 2 of the First Round, a 135–131 double overtime loss to the Boston Celtics, Jordan scored a playoff career-high 63 points, breaking Elgin Baylor's single-game playoff scoring record. The Celtics swept the series in three games.

Jordan completely recovered in time for the 1986–87 season, and had one of the most prolific scoring seasons in NBA history; he became the only player other than Wilt Chamberlain to score 3,000 points in a season, averaging a league-high 37.1 ppg on 48.2% shooting. Jordan also demonstrated his defensive prowess, as he became the first player in NBA history to record 200 steals and 100 blocked shots in a season. Despite Jordan's success, Magic Johnson won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award. The Bulls reached 40 wins, and advanced to the playoffs for the third consecutive year but were again swept by the Celtics.

Jordan led the league in scoring during the 1987–88 season, averaging 35.0 ppg on 53.5% shooting, and won his first league MVP Award. He was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year after averaging 1.6 blocks per game (bpg), a league-high 3.2 steals per game (spg), and leading the Bulls defense to the fewest points per game allowed in the league. The Bulls finished 50–32, and made it past the first round of the playoffs for the first time in Jordan's career, as they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games. In the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Bulls lost in five games to the more experienced Detroit Pistons, who were led by Isiah Thomas and a group of physical players known as the "Bad Boys".

Jordan made his debut as a college player for the U.S. national basketball team at the 1983 Pan American Games in Caracas, Venezuela. He led the team in scoring with 17.3 ppg as the U.S., coached by Jack Hartman, won the gold medal. The following year, Jordan won another gold medal in the 1984 Summer Olympics. The 1984 U.S. team was coached by Bob Knight and featured young players such as Patrick Ewing, Sam Perkins, Chris Mullin, Steve Alford, and Wayman Tisdale. Jordan led the team in scoring, averaging 17.1 ppg for the tournament.

In 1992, Jordan, now an NBA player, was a member of the "Dream Team", which included Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. The team won gold in the 1992 Tournament of the Americas, and the 1992 Summer Olympics. Jordan was the only player to start all eight games in the Olympics. He averaged 14.9 ppg on 45% shooting from the field and 68% from the free-throw line, and was second on the team in scoring. He was undefeated in the four tournaments he played for the U.S. national team, and won all 30 games he took part in.

Jordan was a shooting guard who could also play as a small forward, the position he would primarily play during his second return to professional basketball with the Washington Wizards. Jordan was known as a strong clutch performer. With the Bulls, he decided 25 games with field goals or free throws in the last 30 seconds, including two NBA Finals games and five other playoff contests. His competitiveness was visible in his prolific trash talk and well-known work ethic. Jordan often used perceived slights to fuel his performances. Sportswriter Wright Thompson described him as "a killer, in the Darwinian sense of the word, immediately sensing and attacking someone's weakest spot". As the Bulls organization built the franchise around Jordan, management had to trade away players who were not "tough enough" to compete with him in practice. To improve his defense, Jordan spent hours studying film of opponents. On offense, he relied more on instinct and improvization. Jordan's fierce competitiveness greatly impacted his teammates, sometimes motivating them but also leading to tension and alienation.

Noted as a durable player, Jordan did not miss four or more games while active for a full season from 1986–87 to 2001–02, when he injured his right knee. Of the 15 seasons Jordan was in the NBA, he played all 82 regular season games nine times, and never missed a single playoff game. Jordan has frequently cited David Thompson, Walter Davis, and Jerry West as influences. Confirmed at the start of his career, and possibly later on, Jordan had a special "Love of the Game" clause written into his contract, which was unusual at the time, and allowed him to play basketball against anyone at any time, anywhere.

Jordan had a versatile offensive game and was capable of aggressively driving to the basket as well as drawing fouls from his opponents at a high rate. His 8,772 free throw attempts are the 12th-highest total in NBA history. Early in Jordan's career, he weighed around 200 pounds (91 kg) and was more athletic in terms of play style. As his career progressed, Jordan developed the ability to post up his opponents and score with his trademark fadeaway jump shot, using his leaping ability to avoid block attempts. According to Hubie Brown, this move alone made Jordan nearly unstoppable. Around this time, he bulked up to 215 pounds (98 kg) to adapt to the increased physicality of NBA defenses during the 1990s, sacrificing some athleticism for added strength in the post. Despite media criticism by some as a selfish player early in his career, Jordan was willing to defer to his teammates, with a career average of 5.3 apg and a season-high of 8.0 apg. For a guard, Jordan was also a good rebounder, finishing with 6.2 rpg. Defensively, he averaged 2.3 spg and 0.8 bpg.

The three-point field goal was not Jordan's strength, especially in his early years. Later on in his career, Jordan improved his three-point shooting, and finished his career with a three-point field goal percentage of 32.7%. His best years shooting from three were the 1989–90 and 1992–93 seasons, where he shot 37.6% and 35.2% from three, respectively.

Overall, Jordan's effective field goal percentage was 51%, and he had six seasons with at least 50% shooting, five of which were consecutive (1988–1992). Jordan also shot 51% and 50% from the field, and 30% and 33% from three-point range, throughout his first and second retirements, respectively, finishing his Bulls career with 31.5 points per game on 50.5 FG% shooting and his overall career with 49.7 FG% shooting.

Jordan is regarded as one of the most influential sports figures in history and is considered by many to be the greatest basketball player of all time; he was integral in popularizing the sport and the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.

Jordan's talent was clear from his first NBA season; by October 1984, he was being compared to Julius Erving. Larry Bird said that rookie Jordan was the best player he ever saw, and that Jordan was "one of a kind", and comparable to Wayne Gretzky as an athlete. In his first game in Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks, Jordan received a near minute-long standing ovation. After Jordan established the single game playoff record of 63 points against the Boston Celtics on April 20, 1986, Bird described him as "God disguised as Michael Jordan".

Jordan led the NBA in scoring in 10 seasons (NBA record) and tied Wilt Chamberlain's record of seven consecutive scoring titles. Jordan was a fixture of the NBA All-Defensive First Team, making the roster nine times (NBA record shared with Gary Payton, Kevin Garnett, and Kobe Bryant). He also holds the records for career regular season scoring average (30.1 points per game) and career playoff scoring average (33.4 points per game). Jordan was the outright leading scorer across both teams in 36 of the 37 playoff series of his career (97.3%). By 1998, the season of his Finals-winning shot against the Jazz, he was well known throughout the league as a clutch performer. In the regular season, Jordan was the Bulls' primary threat in the final seconds of a close game and in the playoffs; he would always ask for the ball at crunch time. Jordan's total of 5,987 points in the playoffs is the second-highest among NBA career playoff scoring leaders. He scored 32,292 points in the regular season, placing him sixth on the NBA all-time scoring list behind LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Bryant, and Kevin Durant.

With five regular season MVPs (tied for second place with Bill Russell—only Abdul-Jabbar has won more, with six), six Finals MVPs (NBA record), and three NBA All-Star Game MVPs, Jordan is among the most decorated players in NBA history. He finished among the top three in regular season MVP voting 10 times. Jordan was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996, and selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021. He is one of only eight players in history to achieve the basketball Triple Crown—winning an NCAA championship, an NBA championship, and an Olympic gold medal. In the All-Star Game fan ballot, Jordan received the most votes nine times.

Harry Edwards, considered the father of the field of sociology of sport, referred to Jordan as representing the highest level of human achievement comparable to Gandhi, Einstein, or Michelangelo. Pulitzer-winning writer David Halberstam stated that if he were in charge of introducing an alien being "to the epitome of human potential, creativity, perseverance and spirit" he would introduce that alien life to Michael Jordan. Many of Jordan's contemporaries have said that he is the greatest basketball player of all time. In 1999, an ESPN survey of journalists, athletes and other sports figures ranked Jordan the greatest North American athlete of the 20th century. Jordan placed second to Babe Ruth in the Associated Press' December 1999 list of 20th century athletes. The Associated Press also voted Jordan the greatest basketball player of the 20th century. He has also appeared on the front cover of Sports Illustrated a record 50 times. In the September 1996 issue of Sport, which was the publication's 50th-anniversary issue, Jordan was named the greatest athlete of the past 50 years.

Six-time NBA champion – 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998

Six-time NBA Finals MVP – 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998

Five-time NBA MVP – 1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1998

10-time NBA scoring leader – 1987–1993, 1996–1998

Three-time NBA steals leader – 1988, 1990, 1993