Gambling Lover Michael Jordan Battled a Wild Rumor About His Retirement That Could Have Ruined His Billionaire Ambitions

Michael Jordan was not only known for his basketball prowess, but also for his love for gambling. Sure, his Airness set the league alight and made the game world famous. But that wasn’t the only thing that was synonymous with Jordan. He was also an avid gambler. Jordan used to bet on everything and anything, and his bets would go up to half a million. But there is one Jordan story that is pretty famous and also a  controversial one. Additionally, this story could have cost Jordan the opportunity to become a billionaire.

We all know Jordan took a break from basketball in 1993. He announced his retirement and said he had lost the will to play basketball. The death of his father majorly affected his decision. Although Jordan would return in 1995 and would win 3 more titles before retiring again. He made a comeback again at the age of 40 and played for two more seasons. As such, many regard him as the greatest of all time. But a story broke out during the time of the first retirement, which could have been costly.

Michael Jordan was accused of a wild story but he fought rumors to become a billionaire, eventually

Jordan’s gambling problems came into the limelight in 1993 after his retirement. There were several conspiracy theories that were making the rounds. One of them was that there was a connection between the death of Jordan’s father and Jordan’s gambling debts. The league had conducted several investigations, and they found no truth to the matter.

At the time, David Stern said that the league’s latest investigation of Jordan was now closed, emphasizing that he was certain Jordan had never bet on NBA games and was not suffering from gambling addiction. But there was a lot of noise and with Jordan saying he will return to basketball if David Stern let him in, these rumors caught fire. Jordan wanted Stern to come out in his support, but Stern felt like this would only add fuel to those rumors.

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These rumors were put to bed when Jordan made his return, but talk started again when Jordan became a majority owner. Stern was quite active in getting Jordan into his team, even though they weren’t that close ever. The story eventually blew over and things became normal.

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