“How did Michael Jordan finish 3rd behind Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley in 1990?”: 1989-90 NBA MVP race was one of the closest in league history

Michael Jordan wasn’t the MVP in 1990 as both Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley were ahead of him, with Magic taking home the honors. 

The 1989-90 NBA season was merely a year away from what would be a turning point in the league. Michael Jordan would suffer his final Playoff heartbreak this season before going 6 for 6 in the NBA Finals in the 90s. However, prior to the new decade, Jordan had already established himself as the best of the best, right alongside Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. 

With several NBA legends still at the peak of their powers and younger talent in the first few years of their prime, the 1990 MVP race was as tight as it could get. The 1989 NBA MVP was given to Magic Johnson, a player who had won merely one MVP but had 5 championships before the 80s had even closed out.

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The 30 year old Lakers legend would actually edge out guys like Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and Karl Malone to repeat as the MVP in 1990. 

How the 1990 NBA MVP race panned out for the likes of Michael Jordan and the rest of the league. 

As mentioned before, Magic won the 1990 Most Valuable Player award but did so by a small margin. Surprisingly enough, Charles Barkley had 11 more first place votes than Johnson but the total second, third, fourth, and fifth place votes combined gave the 5x champ the edge over the rest of the league. 

Michael Jordan, after having won the 1988 MVP, shockingly finished 3rd in 1990, with his total votes coming to 564, which is 50 less than what Charles Barkley received. The Chicago Bulls seemed dominant in the regular season as they finished 55-27. The Lakers and the Sixers however, finished 63-19 and 53-29, respectively.

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The Lakers did in fact make it to the NBA Finals but would end up losing to the Detroit Pistons, marking it the second time the ‘Bad Boys’ won it all. Funnily enough, the Pistons had zero players on their team that received a first place vote for MVP. This goes to show just how balanced their squad was in the late 80s leading up to the 90s.