Michael Jordan announces retirement
SportsLine wire report |
Michael Jordan, perhaps the most popular athlete of all time, announced his retirement this afternoon in a funereal-like atmosphere at the United Center.
Linked with Babe Ruth and Muhammad Ali as the most important sports figures of this century, Jordan raised the NBA to unimaginable heights of success and popularity and transcended racial and social barriers. He earned five MVP awards, carried the Chicago Bulls to six championships this decade and was worshiped worldwide by young and old, men and women, fans and athletes.
"From a career standpoint I accomplished all I could as an individual and I don't have the mental challenges I had in the past," said Jordan at today's news conference. "It's a perfect time to walk away from the game. I'm at peace with that."
However, Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf summed up today's announcement for most sports fans.
"This is the day I hoped would never come," said Reinsdorf. "This has to be the toughest day in the history of the Chicago Bulls, a tough day for the city of Chicago, a tough day for the NBA, a tough day for basketball fans all over the world."
This is Jordan's second retirement in just over five years. He left the NBA in 1993 to take a shot at baseball and made a joking reference to his "first retirement", saying "there won't be another announcement to baseball or anything to that nature."
As expected, Jordan was inundated with questions about a possible return. Although he stuck with his usual "never say never" policy, it appears this retirement is for good.
"I never say never, but 99.9 percent I'm sure with my decision," said Jordan. "It's not 100 percent, but it's close. I say 99.9 and you take it for what it's worth."
When asked why he refused to slam the door completely, leaving the slightest of possibilities that he could return, Jordan said, "because it's my one percent and not yours."
Jordan leaves at perhaps the worst time for the NBA, which is battling an image problem created by the recently settled lockout. A shortened season begins next month, with the greatest basketball player on the planet no longer on center stage.
More than 500 credentials were issued for today's event, which lasted approximately 45 minutes. Jordan, accompanied by his wife, Juanita, issued a brief statement and was followed to the podium by Reinsdorf and NBA Commissioner David Stern before he fielded questions from the media.
Ironically, Jordan scored the last basket in the last NBA game. His game-winning jumper in the waning seconds of Game Six of the NBA Finals last June gave the Bulls their sixth title in eight years and undoubtedly will become a lasting image of his uncanny ability to save his best for the biggest moments.
Jordan's high-flying style took the game higher than previous skywalkers such as Elgin Baylor and Julius Erving. With his scoring and defense, he completely dominated games as a shooting guard, which no one ever had done.
Only centers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain have scored more than Jordan's 29,277 career points. His scoring average of 31.5 points per game is the highest in league history, as is his playoff average of 33.4.
Jordan is responsible for the league's tremendous growth in revenue and global popularity over the last 15 years. He became the NBA's unofficial ambassador and was besieged by fans everywhere to the point he could not appear in public.
Jordan also changed America's perception of black athletes as commercial spokesmen. With confidence and a smile, he hawked everything -- long-distance service, hamburgers, soft drinks, cereal, hot dogs, batteries, even underwear -- and the public bought it, hoping to "Be Like Mike."
But his best selling job came in the athletic footwear industry. Signing with Nike prior to his rookie season, he loaned his name to a line of sneakers called Air Jordan and forever changed the way America bought tennis shoes.
A media explosion made Jordan's on-court exploits and off-court endorsements more visible. He parlayed that popularity into a movie, "Space Jam," in which he starred alongside legendary Warner Brothers cartoon characters Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.
Jordan's worth is estimated at $500 million. In 1997 alone, he earned $78 million -- $30 million in basketball salary and $48 million in endorsements. Late in 1997, he became CEO of his own sportswear company backed by Nike.
Jordan retires with the highest scoring average of all time and as the greatest winner outside of Bill Russell. Chicago's six championships in eight years -- interrupted only by Jordan's first retirement of 17 months beginning in 1993 -- is surpassed only by the eight in a row won by Russell's Boston Celtics from 1959-66.
Jordan's departure should also signal the exit of teammate Scottie Pippen, whose maturation as a superstar took the offensive pressure off Jordan and turned the Bulls into a powerhouse. Pippen is a free agent and is expected to sign elsewhere.
Voted as one of the 50 Greatest Players in late 1996, Jordan is a 12-time All-Star, 10-time scoring champion and five-time Most Valuable Player. He was the 1985 Rookie of the Year and was named Defensive Player of the Year in 1988.
But Jordan saved his best for the playoffs. He served notice that he would challenge the 1980s rivalry between Bird and Magic Johnson when he scored a record 63 points in a postseason loss to Bird's Celtics in 1986.
Five years later, the Bulls dethroned the two-time defending NBA champion Detroit Pistons before winning their first title with a five-game series win over Johnson's Los Angeles Lakers. Jordan won the first of his six NBA Finals MVP awards.
Led by Jordan, the Bulls defeated the Portland Trail Blazers in six games in 1992 and the Phoenix Suns in six games in 1993, becoming the first team since the 1960s Celtics to win three straight titles.
Just 30 years old and seemingly in his prime, Jordan stunned the sports world by announcing his retirement in October 1993. He cited the hurtful reports of large gambling losses and the murder of his father, James, as some of his reasons for walking away.
Four months later, Jordan was working out at facilities of the Chicago White Sox. He played a season of minor-league baseball at Class AA Birmingham, batting just .202 and striking out once every four at-bats.
The threat of being used as a replacement player by the White Sox during the players' strike of 1994-95 and an insatiable desire to compete drove Jordan back to the NBA. He returned in March 1995 and hoped to rally the Bulls back to the title.
Wearing No. 45 instead of his familiar 23, Jordan was not in basketball shape and Chicago was beaten by the Orlando Magic in six games in the conference semifinals.
Jordan returned the following season with something to prove and did so in record-setting fashion. He returned to his familiar spot atop the league in scoring and led the Bulls to a 72-10 mark, the best in NBA history.
Chicago won 14 of its first 15 playoff games before losing twice to Seattle in the NBA Finals. On Father's Day, Jordan completed his comeback by leading the Bulls to another title.
In each of the last two seasons, Jordan has led the league in scoring and the Bulls to wins over the Jazz in the Finals. In both series, he turned in games that will live in the memory of every basketball fan.
In Game Five in 1997, Jordan battled exhaustion and dehydration brought on by food poisoning to score 38 points, including the game-winning three-pointer with 25 seconds to play.
In Game Six last year, he scored 16 of his 45 points in the fourth quarter, including Chicago's final eight. In the last 40 seconds, he scored on a layup, stole the ball from Utah's Karl Malone and made a 20-foot jumper in the waning seconds to win the game.
Jordan was a member of the 1984 and 1992 United States Olympic teams that won gold medals. He also made the game-winning shot in the 1982 NCAA Tournament, giving North Carolina the title.