Why Did Michael Jordan Come Out of Retirement to Join the Washington Wizards?

Michael Jordan came, saw and conquered. What else could one expect from a player who averaged 28.2 points at 51.5% shooting from the field in his rookie year itself? GOAT to some, God to others, and a failure to none, such was MJ’s impact. 

It took three retirement announcements for the legend to finally hang his Air Jordan sneakers. MJ’s first hasta la vista moment came after his father’s unfortunate death. The undisputed king of basketball left the hard court to pick baseball. But the itch for glory helped him make a comeback, and the rest is history. But what made him come out of the second retirement and join the Washington Wizards?

Michael Jordan and the last chapters of his playing career

The winning combination of Chicago Bulls broke into pieces in 1998. The presence of Phil Jackson, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman helped the Bulls taste a three-peat twice. But a strained relationship with General Manager Jerry Krause ripped them apart. Hence, MJ’s 1998 retirement was more of something that he forced upon himself.

Later, Washington Wizards’ majority owner Abe Pollin reached out to MJ with a job offer. He wanted the 6-time NBA Champion to be the team’s new president of basketball operations. They closed the deal in Jan 2000. The world again got to see an active MJ who had the responsibility to make draft picks, put together a roster, manage the salary cap, and chalk out other financial deals. 

But somewhere inside the phenom, the fire to make a comeback was still burning. Perhaps he wanted to leave the game on his own terms and hence decided to help the Wizards from inside the court and not outside. 

Why did The Last Dance exclude this part of his life?

For making his on-court return, Jordan divested his ownership stake in the franchise. In an old interview, he said, “It’s an itch that still needs to be scratched here and I want to make sure this scratch doesn’t bother me for the rest of my life… I’m just going to play the game of basketball that I love. I’m not about the money. I don’t care if I get paid a dime.”

These lines more or less summed up his return to play. But it was a failed return if one was to compare the MJ from 2001 to 2003 to the MJ of the ‘80s and the ‘90s. Jordan averaged 21.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 4.4 assists while shooting 43.1 percent overall with Washington. This was nowhere close to his 31.5 ppg at 51.5% field shooting with the Bulls. 

After showing up in 120 games for the Wizards, the king was sacked by the same man who got him in. He was shown the doors unceremoniously as the Wizards failed to make it into the playoffs on both seasons. Perhaps this was the reason the celebrated documentary excluded this chapter of his playing career.

Read also: “Coach How MJ Wanted to Coach”- Former Wizards Player Details Why Michael Jordan Failed with the Team