Michael Jordan at 60: The basketball legend that outgrew his sport

Last September, the Chicago Bulls jersey with the number 23, which Michael Jordan wore in 1998 when he won his last NBA title, was auctioned at the prestigious Sotheby's auction house for 10.1 million dollars. That alone reflects the greatness of the basketball legend, who turns 60 on Friday 17 February.

The man who won six NBA championship rings and won the same number of Finals MVP awards, added two Olympic gold medals (Los Angeles 1984 and Barcelona 1992), played 14 All Star games, is still considered the greatest basketball player of all time two decades after his career ended.

Two championship three-peats with the Bulls

Even when Chicago drafted him in 1984, he was already being talked about as a future star. Michael Jordan lived up to the hype. He was able to lift a below-average team with his performances and led them to the playoffs in every season. He had to wait a while for a title, but when the Bulls triumphed for the first time in 1991, it was just the beginning of an amazing era that he directed.

In 1991, 1992 and 1993, he was absolutely dominant, winning the MVP trophy after each title celebration. Three times in a row - no one had done it before him. 

Gambling and a murdered father

But the summer of 1993 was one of Jordan's most difficult. There was already speculation during the season that he had fallen into gambling, and in July of that year, two teenagers murdered his father at a highway rest stop. Then in October, before the new season, he announced he was quitting basketball.

Jordan's brief career as a baseball player began. But less than two years later, he was back under the basketball hoop with new motivation. It may not have turned into a title the first time, but in 1996-1998 Michael Jordan celebrated his second championship three-peat and announced another farewell.

A failed Wizard

But there was one more return to the NBA, this time with the Washington Wizards. Jordan linked his latest comeback to donating his salary to the victims of the attacks on New York and the Capitol. The aforementioned Washington signing was on September 25, 2001, just 14 days after the terrorist attack on American cities. His two seasons with the Wizards were more of an ordeal, though he had the authority to bring coach Doug Collins with him and was formally named director of basketball operations. After his career ended in 2003, however, the Wizards did not give him the promised position. Still, Jordan's farewell was a big one. His last game in Philadelphia was watched by over 21,000 spectators who stood and applauded for three minutes.

Lousy manager

The failed managerial era with the Wizards was followed by another chapter. In 2006, he joined the Charlotte Bobcats with his capital. They have since reverted to their original name, the Hornets, and Jordan is still their owner to this day. But he was better on the court anyway. Charlotte only made the playoffs three times in the 17 years since he joined the franchise. And word of Jordan's management skills is said to have ended a great friendship with another basketball icon, Charles Barkley. "We haven't spoken in about 10 years, even though we've been in the same place at the same time several times. Michael was offended by something I said about him. Until then, he was my best friend. I still love him like a brother, we're just both stubborn," Barkley explained his relationship on the popular Let's Go podcast.

With number 23, but not only with it

The number 23 has become revered thanks to the Jordan era. In college and in Cleveland, it was because of his role model that LeBron James himself played with the same number. And the Miami Heat, a club Jordan never played for, retired the number 23 in honor of the legend. But Jordan also had two episodes with other numbers. When he first returned to Chicago, he took 45. "I didn't want to wear 23 anymore, I knew my dad wasn't there to watch me. I felt it was a fresh start and 45 was my first number when I played in high school," he explained.

It was also his baseball number. The episode ended, however, after in a heated 1995 playoff series with Orlando, Nick Anderson just scored the game's deciding basket over Jordan, and in an interview he quipped that Jordan used to be better with the number 23.

However, Michael Jordan played one game in 1990 with the number 12 and Orlando was also there. The reason was different. During pregame warm-ups, an arena employee broke through the false ceiling into the locker room and stole the valuable relic for himself. Jordan then played with a 12 on his back and no name tag. 

Last Dance split friends

The glorious era of the Chicago Bulls has been the subject of several books and movies. The most prominent work, which traces Jordan's tenure and winning six NBA titles, is the Netflix-produced documentary Last Dance. Yet it was this miniseries that pitted former partners from this golden era against each other.

"It's become a wannabe documentary full of lies to get the best out of Jordan," lamented Horace Grant, a member of the successful team. He was joined by Scottie Pippen, who suggested that Jordan was trying to show the current generation that he was more than anyone else and, more importantly, better than LeBron James. "Even when we were winning, we weren't getting any credit. And most of the time we were just criticized for losing. Only Michael could do anything, and even though he may have shot poorly and lost the ball five times, he was flawless to the press and the public," said the member of the glory era. That was the reality of the Chicago Bulls, too.

Air Jordan legacy

In addition to his basketball exploits, the story of the most famous basketball shoe ever made history, earning both Jordan himself and the Nike brand hundreds of millions of dollars. Yet Jordan was initially reluctant to meet with representatives of the then-underrated brand. Jordan's manager, David Falk, tried to talk to the rising star through his mother. "She said I might not like it, but at least I got to go in and interview them," Jordan recalled of the call that made him rich in short order. 

In addition to his first contract for $2.5 million over five years, Jordan also received stock in the company and, most importantly, gave the shoes their name. It became a mutually beneficial business that still brings both parties large financial returns today. The Air designation denoted Nike's new impact-cushioning technology; Jordan was just a stamp of quality. In those days, basketball players were only allowed to play in white shoes, but Jordan wore red and black shoes and paid a fine for each game. It didn't ruin him, it gave him even more publicity.

Birthday gift

Michael Jordan is 60 years old today, and to celebrate his birthday he decided to donate $10 million to a foundation that helps grant the wishes of children suffering from serious illnesses. "For the past 34 years, it has been a great honor to work with Make-A-Wish and help bring smiles to those who are having a hard time in life. Witnessing their strength and resilience in their life stories has been a true inspiration," he added.

Tennis has Federer, football has Pelé and Maradona, and basketball fans have no doubt that the most important player of all time was Air Jordan. "He made the NBA, and other branches of professional sports, the environment we see today. Few people were concerned with million-dollar contracts, advertising, media space or television rights before his era. Then he came along," wrote Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Jordan's biographer David Halberstam. Michael Jordan's legacy can still be seen around the world today. Not only in the US, but even in the remotest corners of Africa, a quarter of a century after the end of his era, it is possible to find a Bulls jersey with the number 23 on it.