Three times in total, Michael Jordan has left the basketball court. The first came after he had captured his third consecutive championship in 1993. He made the difficult decision to leave the NBA and concentrate on baseball with the Birmingham Barons that summer after the untimely murder of his father.
After the conclusion of the 2002–03 NBA season, he would hang up his jersey as a Washington Wizard and declare his retirement for the third and last time. However, given all of its complexities, his second retirement may have been the most fascinating.
In 1995, Jordan made a comeback to the NBA as a Chicago Bull, and from 1996 through 1998, he guided the team to three consecutive titles. Jordan retired following the 1998 championship because Bulls general manager Jerry Krause wouldn’t allow Phil Jackson to return as head coach. He wouldn’t come back until the 2001–2002 campaign.
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Doug Collins Was Questioned by Michael Jordan About Continuing to Play in The NBA
Out of the three Bulls coaches from 1984 to 1998, Doug Collins was Jordan’s coach after Stan Albeck and the only one to give Jordan full control. Jordan was the center of the offense as a whole, and while this didn’t result in a championship, it undoubtedly contributed to the two of them developing a close bond.
When Michael Jordan was the Washington Wizards’ President of Basketball Operations for the 2001–02 season, he donned the team’s uniform. In the process, Collins was also hired as the team’s head coach.
Collins recalls MJ’s legendary 51-point performance against the Charlotte Hornets during that season. He asserts that MJ smoked cigars, drank drinks, and worked out in the morning at 7:30. After asking Collins if he could still play in the league, Doug responded, “Absolutely.”
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It should be emphasized that Collins claims that MJ dropped 51 on the Nets, despite the fact that Jordan never did so. On the Hornets, he did so. He hit the Nets for 45.
In both seasons, Michael Jordan and the Wizards would miss the playoffs.
During the 2001–02 season, Jordan would miss the Playoffs for the first time in his brilliant career. He would go on to play 60 games that season but was forced to sit out due to a knee ailment. Despite having a 26-21 record going into the All-Star break, Washington would finish the season with a 37-45 record.
The Wizards had the exact identical 37-45 record in their second and last season together, which prevented them from making the playoffs.
