Michael Jordan was a precious asset for Jerry Reinsdorf and the Chicago Bulls throughout the late 80s and the early 90s decade. There was no way in which the Bulls owner was ready to part with his best player from the team, even if a team executive requested it. Once when the Bulls GM Jerry Krause asked Reinsdorf if he could trade Michael Jordan, the Bulls owner bluntly rejected this idea. For Reinsdorf, having Michael Jordan on the team was way more vital than winning an NBA title. All of these instances were well documented in the book, ‘There is No Next: NBA Legends on the Legacy of Michael Jordan‘ by Sam Smith.
Advertisement
Jordan was drafted as a 3rd overall pick by the Bulls during the 1984 NBA draft. Jerry Reinsdorf knew well that in MJ, he had found a golden goose for his franchise. And his intuition was right all along. The same ‘golden goose’ delivered 6 NBA titles and filled arenas for the Bulls during his course with the team. Jordan’s impact was unprecedented in the league and the Bulls, something that owner Reinsdorf was never willing to part with.
Jerry Reinsdorf once bluntly rejected Jerry Krause’s proposition to trade Michael Jordan for a championship
Michael Jordan had failed to see relative team success during the early days of his career. Though he was excelling on an individual level, facing formidable opponents, such as the ‘Bad Boy Pistons’ was becoming a huge obstacle for their title contentions. Hence, general manager Jerry Krause had come up with a proposition to sell Jordan to further the Bulls’ championship interests.
Jerry Reinsdorf, however, was insightful about the humongous impact of Jordan. The third overall pick from North Carolina was filling the United Arena with his performance like never before. When Krause forwarded his proposition to Reinsdorf,
Krause came to me at one point and said, “If I can make a great trade of Jordan, that can guarantee us a championship, will you let me do it?”
The Bulls owner bluntly rejected this idea and said:
“Well, put it this way. If you do this and we win a championship, You will be the Executive of the Year. But-you’ll get your award posthumously. So the answer is no.”
Yes, the Bulls owner literally threatened Jerry Krause with his life if he were to trade Jordan! Even if keeping Jordan cost them their championship contention, Reinsdorf was willing to trust the process and believe in MJ’s potential. To validate his decision, Reinsdorf conducted a poll amongst the Bulls fans if they were ready to trade MJ for a championship. And unsurprisingly, an overwhelming majority of the poll participants wanted to keep Michael Jordan over a possible NBA title.
Jerry Reinsdorf’s patience finally paid off when Michael Jordan made history with the Bulls’ three-peat run between 1991-1993. Though Jordan’s brief retirement was a heavy blow for the team, that didn’t mean the goose had stopped laying. When MJ returned to the Bulls in 1995, he started the next season with another three-peat run which lasted till 1998. Guess Jerry Reinsdorf’s belief in Michael Jordan’s potential was a major reason why that helped him reach the great status.
Michael Jordan was once nervous Jerry Reinsdorf would end the Bulls Dynasty
With the first title win in 1991, the Bulls had created a dynasty of players, which included Jordan and Scottie Pippen. However, Jordan had better reasons for apprehension during his first title win. ‘His Airness’ was afraid that Jerry Reinsdorf would end the Bulls’ dynasty during the Finals series against Magic Johnson and the Lakers.
If the Bulls had failed to win the series, perhaps we would have seen MJ in a different team back then. Jerry Reinsdorf was dissatisfied with the Bulls’ lack of championship success, which led to palpable tension and anxiety arising among Jordan and the other players.
The 4-2 win against the Lakers in the 1991 Finals series was a crucial standpoint in the Bulls’ legacy. Had Chicago lost that series, we would have never witnessed Jordan’s and the Bulls dynasty’s greatness in their following three-peat successes.
