?I Was Thinking About Quitting Anyway?: 24 Years After His Father?s Murder, Michael Jordan Admitted Following His ?Last Direction? to Sacrifice Crucial Years of His Basketball Prime

Michael Jordan is one of the greatest basketball players to have played in the NBA. Despite being better than the rest, it took MJ seven years to win his first NBA championship in 1991. The winning streak continued and Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls won three championships in a row from 1991-1993. However, Jordan revealed in an interview years ago that he started to lose the motivation to keep playing and considered retiring just before the murder of his father James Jordan in 1993.?

MJ appeared on the fourth season of ‘One on One with Ahmad Rashad’ a while ago. He discussed his journey in the NBA and the efforts it took to win six championships with the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls legend talked about losing motivation after winning three back-to-back championships in the NBA. Jordan also cited his father’s contribution to becoming who he was on and off the court. However, Michael Jordan was taken aback when his father’s body was located in South Carolina in August 1993.?

Why Did Michael Jordan leave the NBA?

The murder of Jordan’s father came at a time when he was at a crossroads about continuing in the NBA. Years after his father’s murder, MJ revealed that he sacrificed his NBA career to follow the ‘Last Direction’ that his father had suggested to him.

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During the interview, the 14-time All-Star said,?“Before my father passed, I was thinking about quitting anyway, not quitting but retiring, you know because I just kind of lost my motivation you know for the game of basketball.”?

Further, Michael shared that he had lost the motivation to continue. The purity of the game after getting on top and winning three championships was lost on him a little. The tragedy of Michael Jordan losing interest in basketball shifted his focus to a plan that he and his father had discussed. The six-time Finals MVP stated that he and his father had already talked about retiring from the NBA to play baseball.

But after James passed, Jordan felt that the prospect of becoming a baseball player was the last direction from his father. So, MJ stepped away from the NBA in October 1993. Subsequently, he joined a Double-A minor league affiliate team, Birmingham Barons.?

Jordan returned to play basketball

Luckily, Michael turned back to basketball after his one year-stint playing baseball. A baseball strike led to Jordan returning home and getting back to practice with his former Bulls teammates.

MJ shared that after seeing Scottie Pippen, Phil Jackson, and his former teammates, he considered returning to the NBA. Moreover, Scottie Pippen gave the final push that Michael Jordan needed to get back on the court.

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Fortunately, Jordan returned and bagged a second three-peat alongside Pippen and Dennis Rodman between 1996-1998. Despite losing a couple of crucial years, the five-time MVP returned to the NBA in 1995 and continued to play until 2003, making him one of the greatest in the game, if not the very greatest.