For many, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time, but even the Chicago Bulls legend has a few aspects of his life that not everybody knows about.
Jordan won six NBA Championships with the Chicago Bulls, collecting five MVP awards as well as six NBA Finals MVP accolades, a legacy that has lived on long past his retirement.
The basketball icon can also be credited with the rapid growth in popularity of the NBA in the 1980s and 90s, with the Jordan brand one of the staples of the league to this day.
15 seasons in the NBA saw Jordan’s career and life reported extensively, but here are ten facts about the Bulls legend that you may have missed.
1. Michael Jordan’s unlikely pre-game ritual
These days, top athletes are also at the peak of fitness, often not willing to risk anything that could impact their performance levels. However, Jordan didn’t align with this, smoking a cigar as a pre-game ritual.
Speaking to Cigar Aficionado back in 2005, Jordan explained the origins of the superstition: “I smoked my first cigar in 1991, when we won the championship.
“Up to that point, I had never smoked a cigar, never smoked anything. We won the championship, and Jerry Reinsdorf gave me one of his cigars. He’s a big cigar smoker.
“[…] I started smoking a cigar going to the games. In 1993. It became a ritual for every home game.”
2. Jordan part-owns the Charlotte Hornets
The Bulls’ great is impossible to separate from the Chicago team, but Jordan is now associated with another NBA franchise.
Jordan owned a majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets before selling to Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall. He is still involved with the Hornets, but only as a minority shareholder.
3. The iconic #23 jersey wasn’t Jordan’s only NBA number
Jordan’s number 23 jersey isn’t just the most iconic in basketball, but all of sport. However, there were two occasions in his career when he didn’t don his usual number.
Upon his return to basketball in 1995, Jordan wore the number 45 as he didn’t want to wear the number that his then-recently passed father saw him in, but would switch back to 23 later in the season.
For a single night in 1990, though, Jordan wore number 12 on his back after his number 23 jersey was stolen, creating a bizarre moment that has made ‘Jordan 12’ merchandise a collector’s item.
4. Jordan’s unexpected backup career
When you’re so good at a sport from such a young age, the idea of a backup plan probably doesn’t feel necessary. Jordan had one, though, which still would’ve seen him garner some level of fame.
Speaking to The Washington Post in 2015, Jordan said: “I always wanted to be the weatherman. […] I wasn’t playing basketball or baseball, I was gonna tell you what the weather’s going to be like tomorrow.”
5. The unsuccessful baseball stint
Jordan retired from basketball in 1993, citing a loss of love for the sport. Not sport as a whole, however, as the Bulls star would sign for the Chicago White Sox in Major League Baseball, playing for two of the team’s Minor League affiliates.
In the meantime, the Bulls had lost in the second round of the playoffs without their star man and after a year in baseball, Jordan would return to his original love midway through the 1994-95 NBA season.
6. Jordan’s ‘magic’ childhood nickname
Growing up, Jordan was a huge fan of the Los Angeles Lakers star, Magic Johnson. As his talent for basketball became clear, he would be referred to as ‘Magic Jordan.’
MJ, His Airness and Air Jordan are a pretty solid set of nicknames, but Magic Jordan could’ve been a brand-building pseudonym on its own.
7. Jordan holds an incredible American honour
Jordan’s legacy is recognised universally, not just in the world of sport. The most poignant example of this came in 2016, when President Barack Obama presented Jordan with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honour a civilian can earn in the country.
8. Charity is a key driver for Jordan
Both during and following his career, Jordan has been keen to help others with his extensive wealth. He returned to basketball in the 2001/02 season with the Washington Wizards, but donated his salary to 9/11 relief funds after the tragedy of the same year.
Jordan also holds the record for the biggest individual Make-A-Wish donation, pledging 10 million US dollars on his 60th birthday in 2023.
9. Jordan had a golf course personally designed for him
Jordan cannot escape his love for sport, becoming an avid golfer in his basketball-playing days and continuing the hobby into retirement.
Success brings luxury, though, so Jordan actually had a course designed specifically for him. The Grove XXIII opened in 2019 but is invite-only, reflecting the star’s love for privacy.
10. Jordan’s Nike partnership almost never happened
It doesn’t get more iconic in sports than Nike and Jordan, with the Jordan brand a behemoth thanks to the career-long partnership. However, Nike at the start of Jordan’s career weren’t the success they became.
It was Converse or Adidas at the time, and according to an ESPN report from 2013, Jordan wanted Adidas.
The report spoke to David Falk, Jordan’s agent, who quoted the young star as saying: “I have no interest in going there [Nike], just do what you need to do to get me with Adidas.”
Thankfully, young Jordan didn’t get his way, and the incredible partnership between Nike and the basketball superstar was born.