Michael Jordan was playing at the highest level at the age of 40 – Tyronn Lue was there to experience it first hand.
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Tyronn Lue, a now successful coach, and a 1-time champion once played with Michael Jordan. Hard to believe the guy who got stepped over by Allen Iverson played with the master and his protégé, Kobe Bryant. He’s truly the Angel di Maria of the Basketball world. During his time on the Wizards, he shared the dressing room with a 2-time retiree, MJ. But he was far from a guy who had traded basketball shoes for comfy slippers.
Jordan was out on the court beating players 10 years younger. He was out-hustling teammates in practice and dropping 20 points a game in the league. He did not miss a single game even when he turned 40. Completing the full 82 games, Jordan played a whopping 37 minutes a game. The world could not believe what they were witnessing, because such levels of fitness were insane.
But there is always a downside when we prolong the careers of aging superstars. He was eating up valuable roster space for the young players to learn on the court. Rip Hamilton, an up-and-coming player could not get enough time on the court to hone his skills. But what he was blocking, he also made up. The amount of knowledge he imparted to his teammates made them all better players than they could be.
Also Read: Michael Jordan faced an outrageous $832 million lawsuit from his lookalike!
Michael Jordan took the competition seriously – however, two retirements take away some of the emphasis
Playing at the age of 40 is something not many people have done – LeBron James is close to that number, but still has 3 years to go. He also would be called a stat padder because he would have played for 23 years. How poetic would it be, to play for 23 years, and honor his idol? But what Bron has not done is retire and make a comeback – who knows, that might be in store too.
To an MJ fan, watching him play at an age when Pistol Pete was almost dead was a mad stat. But what they should realize is that his career was prolonged because of the two retirements. One comeback made sense because he wanted a break from the game. The second just felt a bit greedy. He watched his younger ex-teammates make the big bucks, and he wanted his share.
A serial winner like Jordan would not accept to make a comeback unless it involved big bucks. Not for the Wizards, even if he was in the consulting role already. Nobody is accusing the Black Cat of anything, but if Jordan had played his 15-year career out in a stretch, his final years wouldn’t have been as productive as his seasons were. They would be as bad as Paul Pierce, but not 20 points a game either.
Also Read: 6’6 Michael Jordan was drafted behind Sam Bowie because he lied about the pain he felt
