“I don’t wanna steal the thunder from Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady”: Michael Jordan’s Second Comeback Threatened to Derail League Growth

When Michael Jordan decided to join the Wizards roster, he was heavily criticized for hampering the league’s growth.

Many credit Michael Jordan for the NBA’s success at a global level. During MJ’s years in Chicago, basketball enthusiasts from all over the world would stick in front of their television sets and watch His Airness go off.

However, once Air Jordan decided to come out of retirement for the second time to play for the Washington Wizards, fans criticized Mike for hampering the league’s growth.

As Jordan was preparing to make his comeback after a 3-year break, he was well aware of the harsh words people had against them. In fact, one of the reporters even spoke about Commissioner David Stern’s opinions on the league allowing the 5-time MVP to make a comeback.

Reporter: “Commissioner Stern was 50-50 on your coming back. His concern was, you might overshadow all these younger ball players.”

Replying to the reporter, the 6-time champ stated that he had no intentions of overshadowing the younger and up-and-coming players.

“I don’t want to overshadow the young players. A lot of people were very nervous about me stopping the growth of the NBA because of my participation in the NBA. I wanted to add, I’m here to aid and help.”

Also Read: Can Zion Williamson Replicate Michael Jordan’s Greatness After Returning From Injury? 

“I’m not asking that the league market me in any way”: Michael Jordan

Further, in the same interview, the 38-year-old Jordan revealed that he didn’t want to steal the “thunder” of the younger players such as Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, and others of similar caliber.

In fact, Michael went on a full rant as to why he also agreed that the league should market the younger players instead of himself.

“I don’t want to steal the thunder from Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady and those types of people because I think it’s the point where they have to continue to grow and they have. They have continued to grow.

It’s all depending on how you guys (media) perceive this whole process, and you write it and the marketing aspect. I’m not asking that the league market me in any way. I’m not asking them to put me on TV. I just, I’m asking I just want to play the game of basketball.

Everybody else is looking at it as an opportunity to make money. Which, at any time I play the game, that’s how people looked at it any way. I could never control that.

So Mr. Stern, yeah he has a job, he has to do it in terms of making sure that he doesn’t promote an old guy. And he promotes and markets the young guys. I would rather prefer to market the young guys. I want the growth of the business of basketball to continue to grow.”

October 1, 2001: Washington’s Michael Jordan discusses how his return to the NBA after a three-season hiatus could affect league growth and marketing. pic.twitter.com/8BhE4C4SFI

— NBA Cobwebs (@NBACobwebs) October 1, 2022

To be fair, we did see a lot less of MJ in his final 2 years. And on the flip side, as influential as “Black Jesus” was, the NBA advertised players like Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Vince Carter, and Tracy McGrady.

Also Read: Steve Kerr, Who Won 3 Championships With Michael Jordan, Declared LeBron James as the Best Athlete Ever