“Michael Jordan Was A Luxury Car And No Longer A Sports Car”: When Bulls Legend Looked Slower And Less Dominant In His Washington Wizards Year

Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan was without a doubt the most dominant player in the NBA during his time with the Chicago Bulls. However, when he came back from retirement the second time, he wasn’t nearly as good with the Washington Wizards.

Jordan’s first retirement came after the 1993 NBA season on the heels of his father’s death. Jordan felt like he needed a break from the NBA, and so he decided to take two years off after winning three championships in a row.

However, he would return two years later to lead the Bulls back ona second three-peat, after which it seemed like he was retired for good. Jordan’s love for the game couldn’t keep him away and he joined the Washington Wizards for two more seasons. While he definitely wasn’t the same player, Jordan was still very effective.

Also Read: “Next Thing I Know There’s A Viral Video Of Me Going Around Singing Taylor Swift”: Jimmy Butler Recalls When Bulls Teammate Nazir Muhammad Recorded Him Jamming Out To Country Music On Sean Evans’ Hot Ones

Michael Jordan Downgraded From A Sports Car To A Luxury Car

Jordan’s former coach Doug Collins had an interesting analogy to make when it came to talking about Jordan’s performance with the Washington Wizards.

Collins had the following to say about Jordan coming back from retirement a second time:

“People had their doubts, but I knew that if Michael was going to do this, he thought he still could play pretty damn well. It’s a luxury car and no longer a sports car”

Jordan did play like a luxury car. In his two seasons with the Wizards, he made the All Star game both times, and he was still a solid contributor for the team.

He finished his tenure in DC averaging 21.2 points per game, 5.9 assists per game, and 4.4 rebounds per game. For any normal player, those numbers are incredible. However, just because of the way Jordan used to dominate the game before, these numbers pale in comparison.

That’s why Collins made his ‘luxury car’ comment. Jordan was still effective, he just wasn’t that same dominant player anymore. Jordan couldn’t lead the Wizards to the playoffs, and after those two years, he finally called it quits for good.

Also Read: “Kawhi Leonard will win at least one championship, but LeBron James will never win again”: Skip Bayless rides hard on Clippers bandwagon while predictably dissing LeBron’s Lakers

Post Edited By: Amulya Shekhar
Basketball Chicago Bulls Michael Jordan NBA Washington Wizards

About the author

Ashish Priyadarshi

Ashish Priyadarshi is The SportsRush's content manager and editor. Ashish freelanced for 1 year in the NFL division before taking on an editorial role in the company. He then tacked on managing content while adding on a writing role in the NBA division. Ashish has been closely following the NFL and NBA since the 2012 season when the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and Derrick Rose was at the height of his powers. Since then, Ashish has focused on honing his knowledge for both leagues in, even writing crossover pieces. In his free time, Ashish is an avid basketball player, he loves to watch movies and TV shows, immersing himself in the cinematic world. Ashish studies computer science and data science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and would love to mesh his love for sports with his technical skills.

Don’t miss these