Michael Jordan once declined to boycott the 1991 NBA Finals because he didn’t want to comment on politics

Michael Jordan’s career could have been very different if he made one move.

Michael Jordan was en route to winning his first championship of 6 in 1991 – things may have been different if he listened to his teammate. Craig Hodges, MJ’s teammate for 5 years was just a role player, but on paper, he has an extremely successful CV. He has 4 championship rings, 2 as a player and 2 as an assistant coach.

Both those times he had Phil Jackson with him: 1991-2 as his coach, and 2009-10 as his boss. In the run to the first of his 4 rings, however, he suggested a move that could change the face of Basketball as we know it. The Bulls gentleman swept the Lakers, but it could have been even more difficult.

Craig had suggested Jordan and he sits out the game 1 of the NBA finals. this was for extending support to Rodney King, who got violently beaten up just a few months ago. Police brutality has always been a rampant problem in the States, and the player wanted to show solidarity for an innocent man who got wrongly beaten up by the cops.

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Michael Jordan was smart enough to not take a stance – he would have been  eviscerated by the media if he did

Hodges said MJ believed the idea of boycotting the game was “crazy” and added Jordan “didn’t speak out largely because he didn’t know what to say – not because he was a bad person.” He was mature enough to know he didn’t know much about the topic and to keep politics out of sports.

LeBron James is the face of the NBA today, and he has several political stances. He’s been vocal all the time, and some of his “woke” stuff has backfired rather spectacularly. He says things even though the knowledge is half-baked, he has the confidence to say it with his chest.

There is no possibility in the world to even imagine Micahel Jordan having anything less than 6 rings. Craig Hodges may have had his intentions in the right place, but the modus operandi? Not so much. Boycotting the game would have done nothing but damage to the franchise.

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