Michael Jordan wanted to retire from the NBA in 1992 and play baseball.
However, the Chicago Bulls legend didn’t because he wanted to do something Larry Bird and Magic Johnson never did: win three titles in a row.
“I had sat with him a year earlier and he told me what he was gonna do,” Mark Vancil, author of Rare Air, said in The Last Dance documentary. “It was the summer of ’92 and it’s the Dream Team summer. You could tell he was really tired. As tired as he looked and as beat up as he looked. I said, ‘So what are you gonna do?’ He said, ‘I’m gonna shock the world. I’m gonna quit and go play baseball.’ And I said, ‘When?’ And he said, ‘Well I’d do it right now except Bird and Magic never won three in a row and I gotta do the Olympics, but if it wasn’t for that, I’d be playing this summer.'”
Jordan and the Bulls won the 1993 championship for their third straight title. MJ then shocked the world and retired from the NBA.
During the 1993-94 NBA season, Jordan played for the Birmingham Barons, the Double-A team of the Chicago White Sox. He batted .202, drove in 51 runs and hit three home runs.
In March 1995, Jordan returned to the NBA after a baseball strike. MJ played in 17 games for the Bulls in 1994-95, averaging 26.9 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.8 steals and 0.8 blocks.
The Bulls lost to the Orlando Magic in the second round of the 1995 playoffs in six games. It was the only postseason series Jordan lost from 1991 to 1998.
Scottie Pippen, Jordan’s partner in crime on the Bulls, wrote in his book that MJ was “angry” after losing to the Magic.
“Another takeaway from camp was how sharp Michael looked,” Pippen wrote. “This was the Michael of old, not the Michael who allowed Nick Anderson to steal the ball. The loss to the Magic made him angry. It’s not generally a good idea to make Michael Jordan angry. Perhaps he also realized, after being away from the game for 21 months, how fortunate he truly was, and that this blessed career of his wouldn’t last forever. Whatever time he might have left, he would make the most of it. He was 32 years old. That’s getting up there for a basketball player. While in Los Angeles the summer before to shoot Space Jam, Michael worked out with other NBA players in a gym the studio built specifically for him.”
The 1995-96 NBA season was a magical campaign for Jordan, Pippen and the Bulls. Chicago went 72-10 and Jordan won his fourth MVP and eighth scoring title.
Jordan averaged 30.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 2.2 steals and 0.5 blocks in 1995-96, while Pippen averaged 19.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 1.7 steals and 0.7 blocks.
The Bulls defeated the Miami Heat in the first round and the New York Knicks in the second round of the 1996 playoffs, setting up a rematch with the Magic, this time in the conference finals.
“From the first day of training camp, this was the team the guys wanted to face,” Pippen wrote. “The Magic players celebrating in our building, carrying Horace Grant on their shoulders, was an image we couldn’t get out of our heads. Getting revenge was the only way.”
The Bulls got their revenge. They swept the Magic to advance to the 1996 NBA Finals.
Chicago faced the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1996 NBA Finals and won the series in six games. Jordan and Pippen won their fourth title and Jordan was named Finals MVP for the fourth time.
Two of the best players in NBA history, Jordan and Pippen won six championships on the Bulls. They went undefeated in the Finals and three-peated twice.
Looking for the latest NBA Insider News & Rumors?
Be sure to follow Hoops Wire on TWITTER and FACEBOOK for breaking NBA News and Rumors for all 30 teams!
