Michael Jordan: Legends in Sports (14 page)

Jordan went into the 2002–2003 season ranked first in NBA history in scoring average, with 31.0 points per game. He was also
second in steals, fourth in total points and field goals made, and fifth in free throws made. Anything he did in the upcoming
months would only add to those already impressive totals.

Jordan had originally opted to rest his knee during the preseason and watch the games from the sidelines. But in a preseason
game on October 21, he came off the bench with less than eight minutes left in the second quarter. In typical fashion, he
sank a turnaround jumper three minutes after entering the game. He drained three more in the third quarter for a total of
eight points in fourteen minutes of play.

Coming off the bench was something new for Jordan — but it was something he knew he was going to have to get used to. His
knee wasn’t one hundred percent yet, and although he was in good shape, other younger players were in better condition. So
for the first time in years, he would be the strong sixth man on the team until he was truly ready to take his place among
the starters.

Still, joining the game midway was not easy. During his first outing, against the Toronto Raptors on
October 30, he couldn’t seem to find his rhythm. He took to the floor with less than four minutes left in the first quarter.
When he left after having played for twenty-five minutes, he had hit only four shots out of fourteen. He also went zero for
two from the foul line. Perhaps the most telling of all was the slam dunk that clanged off the rim. The Wizards lost 74–68
— and sports networks replayed the flubbed dunk over and over while speculating that Jordan was past his prime.

Jordan rebounded the next night, scoring twenty-one points in as many minutes in a win against the Boston Celtics. Yet he
still seemed off his game. By the last week of November, he hadn’t moved from substitute to starter or reached the thirty-point
mark, something that had once been so easy for him.

It may be that Jordan could see the writing on the wall. Or perhaps he simply wanted to end speculation over his career. Whatever
the reason, on Thanksgiving Day, Michael Jordan called a press conference and announced that when the 2002–2003 season was
over, he would retire from the game.

Jordan had made this announcement twice before in his career, once in 1993 and again in 1999, only to
come out of retirement and rejoin the game he loved. This time, however, he meant it, saying there was “zero chance” that
he would return.

“I just want to fulfill my year and enjoy it,” he insisted.

The previous two times Jordan had retired, the basketball world had gone into a tailspin. This time, however, reaction was
more subdued. Many people even congratulated the star player on making a sound decision, one that was good for him and good
for the team.

But Jordan’s actual retirement was still months away. Two days after the announcement, Coach Collins moved Jordan from the
bench to the starting lineup for a game against Philadelphia. In his first game as a starter, Jordan played thirty-seven minutes
and scored sixteen points.

In the weeks that followed, Jordan’s average playing time edged up close to thirty minutes per game. His average points-per-game
increased as well, including a season-high 33 in mid-December.

Unfortunately, the Wizards were not doing as well. By the end of 2002, their record stood at thirteen wins, seventeen losses.
Things seemed to be improving
at the start of the new year, however, when they added four straight wins. The second of these games saw the return of vintage
Michael Jordan.

The Wizards faced the Pacers on January 4. The teams were evenly matched throughout and the game went into two overtimes.
When the match finally ended with a win in the Wizards’ pocket, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Michael Jordan had
tipped the scales in his team’s favor. In fifty-three minutes of play, he scored forty-one points, twenty of which came in
the fourth quarter and double overtime. It was his last two points, both free throws made in the second overtime, that put
the Wizards in the lead for good.

“Tonight, with the highest of things at stake, my game came to me,” Jordan said afterward. “Hopefully, this is just the start
of something big.”

But Jordan’s dreams of an upswing for himself and his team were not to come true. In his next twenty games, he would pass
the thirty-point mark only twice — and in one game in which he played thirty-seven minutes, he was held to a mere four baskets.

Meanwhile, the Wizards lost eleven of those twenty games. By mid-March, it was clear to
basketball followers that the Wizards would not be playoff contenders that year.

With retirement a month away and no shot at a championship, some players might have chosen to take it easy. Not Michael Jordan.
He pushed himself even harder, playing longer and longer games and routinely adding twenty or more points to the score-board.
And in early April, he showed people that he still had what it took to make great plays.

The Wizards were playing the Celtics in Boston on April 6. The score seesawed back and forth through much of the game. In
the final minute, the Celtics were up by two and seemed sure to win. Then, with forty-three seconds on the clock, Jordan drained
a fourteen-foot jump shot. The game went into overtime.

Again, the minutes ticked down. With less than a minute remaining, the score was 98–97 in Boston’s favor. Enter Michael Jordan.
This time he set up teammate Christian Laettner for a wide-open shot. Laettner hit the bucket — and the Wizards took the game,
99–98.

Six games later, on April 16, Jordan wore his Wizards
uniform for the last time in an away game against the 76ers. The Philadelphia crowd greeted him with a standing ovation that
lasted three minutes. They knew that they were watching the last game of the best player basketball had ever known.

It was to be a bittersweet finale for Michael Jordan. Some of his plays, such as a commanding one-handed dunk in the second
quarter, earned him a roar of approval from the crowd. But there were as many missed shots as there were solid plays. Twice
Jordan made a move to the basket for a classic lay-up only to have the ball hit the rim and bounce off. He also bobbled an
alley-oop pass and threw another pass that was picked off easily.

Unfortunately, the rest of the Wizards were playing badly as well. With nine and a half minutes left in the game, they were
down by twenty-one. Jordan was sitting on the bench in his warm-ups, waiting for it to end.

Then the crowd started chanting, “We want Mike! We want Mike!” For more than six minutes, Coach Collins ignored them. But
with two and a half minutes remaining, Jordan stood up, removed his sweats,
and took the floor one last time. He played for less than a minute. His last shot as a professional basketball player was
a free throw.

He sank the bucket, bringing his game total to fifteen points. He had also chalked up four rebounds and four assists in the
twenty-eight minutes he played. After that final point swished through the hoop, he turned to the crowd, waved, and walked
off the court.

The Michael Jordan era was officially over.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
2003–2005

When Michael Jordan removed his Wizards jersey after his last game, he did so believing he was still a big part of the Washington
franchise. But now, instead of point guard, he would be the president of basketball operations, the position he had held before
returning to the game in 2001.

Abe Pollin, owner of the Washington team, had other ideas, however. On May 7, 2003, he met with Jordan for about half an hour.
When the meeting was through, Jordan no longer had a job of any sort with the Wizards.

Sports fans were dumbfounded when the news became public. Michael Jordan, the man who had practically rewritten how the game
was played, had been fired from a basketball franchise? Impossible!

Jordan himself couldn’t seem to believe it. “I am
shocked by this decision,” he said in a statement released to the press that day. He claimed that when he had given up his
office job and partial ownership of the team to return to the court, it had been with the understanding that the position
would be there for him when he retired. To make matters worse, he added, Pollin didn’t give any reasons for firing him.

But Pollin may very well have believed he was doing what was best for the team. When Jordan stepped into his management role
in 2000, he made some trades and acquisitions that proved to be unwise and led to a less-than-stellar roster. That first year,
the Wizards had a terrible record of 19 wins and 65 losses. They improved the following year, when Jordan returned to the
court, but by the end of 2003, they had only won 110 games and had lost 179. That just wasn’t good enough for Pollin.

In addition to his uncharacteristically poor decisions, Jordan may have ruffled a few feathers during his time in the office.
There were reports that he had argued with some members of management, including Susan O’Malley, the team president and ally
of Pollin. He was also said to have badmouthed the very players he had added to the team. In
the end, Pollin acted in what he considered the best interests of the Wizards franchise — and let Jordan go.

Within hours of the news, the media began predicting that another team would snatch Michael up for their management. Robert
Johnson, owner of the Charlotte Bobcats and longtime friend, was first in line.

Jordan knew Johnson was a shrewd businessman. Johnson had founded the cable television network Black Entertainment Television
(BET) in 1980; in 1999, he sold it to Viacom, a huge media company, for 3 billion dollars. In 2003, he won a bid on the newly
created Charlotte Bobcats, becoming the first African-American to be the principal owner of a major professional sports franchise.
One of his first orders of business was to ask Michael Jordan to take a position in the team’s management.

But after much deliberation, Jordan turned down Johnson’s offer. He was no longer looking to help manage someone else’s team
— he was looking to invest in his own team. In fact, he already had his eye on one particular squad, the Milwaukee Bucks.

In early 2003, Senator Herbert Kohl, owner of the
Bucks, got the word out that he was open to selling the Wisconsin franchise. He and Jordan entered talks soon after Jordan
was let go from the Wizards.

After a few weeks, however, the talks ended with Kohl choosing not to sell to Jordan. He insisted his decision had nothing
to do with Jordan himself, saying that he was “impressed with the quality of the professionals that [Jordan] was prepared
to engage had we gone forward, as well as his willingness to make every effort to keep the team in Wisconsin.” He added that
he hoped Jordan would pursue team ownership, as he thought the ex-player would make a very good owner.

Jordan may have been disappointed, but he didn’t stew over the Kohl’s decision. Instead, he turned his energy toward other
interests. One of those interests was motorcycle racing.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
2004–2007