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Michael Jordan

Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ,[9] is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. He played fifteen seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) between 1984 and 2003, winning six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls. He was integral in popularizing basketball and the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s,[10] becoming a global cultural icon.[11] His profile on the NBA website states, "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time."[12]

For other uses, see Michael Jordan (disambiguation).

Personal information

(1963-02-17) February 17, 1963
Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.

6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)

216 lb (98 kg)[a]

North Carolina (1981–1984)

1984: 1st round, 3rd overall pick

1984–1993, 1995–1998, 2001–2003

23, 12,[b] 45

32,292 (30.1 ppg)

6,672 (6.2 rpg)

5,633 (5.3 apg)

Jordan played college basketball with the North Carolina Tar Heels. As a freshman, he was a member of the Tar Heels' national championship team in 1982.[5] Jordan joined the Bulls in 1984 as the third overall draft pick[5][13] and quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring while gaining a reputation as one of the best defensive players.[14] His leaping ability, demonstrated by performing slam dunks from the free-throw line in Slam Dunk Contests, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness".[5][13] Jordan won his first NBA title with the Bulls in 1991 and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a three-peat. Following the murder of his father, Jordan abruptly retired from basketball before the 1993–94 NBA season to play Minor League Baseball in the Chicago White Sox organization, but returned to the Bulls in March 1995 and led them to three more championships in 1996, 1997, and 1998, as well as a then-record 72 regular season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season.[5] He retired for the second time in January 1999, returning for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Washington Wizards.[5][13] During his professional career, he was selected to play for the United States national team, winning four gold medals—at the 1983 Pan American Games, 1984 Summer Olympics, 1992 Tournament of the Americas and 1992 Summer Olympics—while also being undefeated.[15]


Jordan's individual accolades include six NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards, ten NBA scoring titles (both all-time records), five NBA MVP awards, ten All-NBA First Team designations, nine All-Defensive First Team honors, fourteen NBA All-Star Game selections, three NBA All-Star Game MVP awards, three NBA steals titles, and the 1988 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award.[13] He holds the NBA records for career regular season scoring average (30.1 points per game) and career playoff scoring average (33.4 points per game).[16] In 1999, he was named the 20th century's greatest North American athlete by ESPN and was second to Babe Ruth on the Associated Press' list of athletes of the century.[5] Jordan was twice inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, once in 2009 for his individual career,[17] and again in 2010 as part of the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team ("The Dream Team").[18] He became a member of the United States Olympic Hall of Fame in 2009,[19] a member of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 2010,[20] and an individual member of the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2015 and a "Dream Team" member in 2017.[21][22] Jordan was named to the NBA 50th Anniversary Team in 1996 and to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021.[23] The trophy for the NBA Most Valuable Player Award is named in his honor.


One of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation, Jordan made many product endorsements.[10][24] He fueled the success of Nike's Air Jordan sneakers, which were introduced in 1984 and remain popular.[25] He starred as himself in the live-action/animation hybrid film Space Jam (1996) and was the central focus of the Emmy-winning documentary series The Last Dance (2020). He became part-owner and head of basketball operations for the Charlotte Hornets (then named the Bobcats) in 2006 and bought a controlling interest in 2010, before selling his majority stake in 2023. He is also the owner of 23XI Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series. In 2016, he became the first billionaire player in NBA history.[26] That year, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.[27] As of 2024, his net worth is estimated at $3.2 billion by Forbes.[28]

Early life

Michael Jeffrey Jordan was born at Cumberland Hospital in Brooklyn, New York City, on February 17, 1963,[29] to bank employee Deloris (née Peoples) and equipment supervisor James R. Jordan Sr.[29][30] He has two older brothers, James R. Jordan Jr. and fellow basketball player Larry Jordan, as well as an older sister named Deloris and a younger sister named Roslyn.[31][32] In 1968, the family moved to Wilmington, North Carolina.[33] Jordan attended Emsley A. Laney High School, where he highlighted his athletic career by playing basketball, baseball, and football. He tried out for the basketball varsity team during his sophomore year, but at a height of 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m), he was deemed too short. His taller friend Harvest Leroy Smith was the only sophomore to make the team.[34][35]


Motivated to prove his worth, Jordan became the star of Laney's junior varsity team and tallied some 40-point games.[34] The following summer, he grew four inches (10 cm) and trained rigorously.[35] Upon earning a spot on the varsity roster, he averaged more than 25 points per game (ppg) over his final two seasons of high school play.[36] As a senior, he was selected to play in the 1981 McDonald's All-American Game and scored 30 points,[37][38] after averaging 27 ppg,[36] 12 rebounds (rpg),[39][40] and six assists per game (apg) for the season.[40][41][42] He was recruited by numerous college basketball programs, including Duke, North Carolina, South Carolina, Syracuse, and Virginia.[43] In 1981, he accepted a basketball scholarship to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he majored in cultural geography.[44] He chose this field of study because of its relationship to meteorology, as he was interested in a career as a meteorologist.[45][46]

Michael Jordan

.252

8

Six-time – 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998[5]

NBA champion

Six-time – 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998[13]

NBA Finals MVP

Five-time – 1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1998[5]

NBA MVP

1987–88[264]

NBA Defensive Player of the Year

1984–85[5]

NBA Rookie of the Year

10-time – 1987–1993, 1996–1998[13]

NBA scoring leader

Three-time – 1988, 1990, 1993[13]

NBA steals leader

14-time – 1985–1993, 1996–1998, 2002, 2003[13]

NBA All-Star

Three-time – 1988, 1996, 1998[13]

NBA All-Star Game MVP

10-time – 1987–1993, 1996–1998[5]

All-NBA First Team

One-time – 1985[5]

All-NBA Second Team

Nine-time – 1988–1993, 1996–1998[5]

NBA All-Defensive First Team

– 1985[13]

NBA All-Rookie First Team

Two-time – 1987, 1988[5]

NBA Slam Dunk Contest champion

Two-time winner – 1985, 1989[264]

IBM Award

Named one of the in 1996[5]

50 Greatest Players in NBA History

Selected on the in 2021[23]

NBA 75th Anniversary Team

No. 23 [265]

retired by the Chicago Bulls

No. 23 [265]

retired by the Miami Heat

[266]

Chicago Bulls Ring of Honor

NBA MVP trophy renamed in Jordan's honor ("Michael Jordan Trophy") in 2022

[262]

NBA


USA Basketball


NCAA


High school


Halls of Fame


Media


National


State/local

Rare Air: Michael on Michael, with Mark Vancil and (Harper San Francisco, 1993).[388][389]

Walter Iooss

I Can't Accept Not Trying: Michael Jordan on the Pursuit of Excellence, with Mark Vancil and Sandro Miller (Harper San Francisco, 1994).

[390]

For the Love of the Game: My Story, with Mark Vancil (Crown Publishers, 1998).

[391]

Driven from Within, with Mark Vancil (Atria Books, 2005).

[392]

Forbes' list of the world's highest-paid athletes

List of athletes who came out of retirement

List of NBA teams by single season win percentage

Michael Jordan's Restaurant

Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City

Michael Jordan in Flight

NBA 2K11

NBA 2K12

Condor, Bob (1998). Michael Jordan's 50 Greatest Games. Carol Publishing Group.  978-0-8065-2030-8.

ISBN

Jordan, Michael (1998). For the Love of the Game: My Story. New York City: . ISBN 978-0-609-60206-5.

Crown Publishers

Kruger, Mitchell (2003). One Last Shot: The Story of Michael Jordan's Comeback. New York City: . ISBN 978-0-312-99223-1.

St. Martin's Paperbacks

(2014). Michael Jordan: The Life. New York City: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-19477-8.

Lazenby, Roland

Porter, David L. (2007). . Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-33767-3.

Michael Jordan: A Biography

The Sporting News Official NBA Register 1994–95 (1994). . ISBN 978-0-89204-501-3.

The Sporting News

McGovern, Mike (2005). . Ferguson. ISBN 978-0-8160-5876-1.

Michael Jordan: Basketball Player

Career statistics and player information from  and Basketball-Reference.com

NBA.com

at Curlie

Michael Jordan

Career statistics and player information from

Baseball Reference (Minors)

on YouTube

Michael Jordan Career Retrospective

at IMDb

Michael Jordan

. Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on June 5, 1997. Retrieved April 29, 2020.

"Jordan archives"