Michael Jordan is one of the most fearsome athletes in NBA history. The 6-time champion was known for destroying defenders who were too eager to talk trash to him.
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Jordan’s excellence and skill made him a man who had zero tolerance for any trash-talking. His entire game was built on being able to take any and every player on the court to school.
But in 1993, he abruptly retired from the NBA and moved on to baseball. The stint wouldn’t last long before Jordan realized his heart demanded his presence in the NBA. However, unlike his hopes, his return to the league wasn’t as climactic as he had imagined.
Michael Jordan, wearing the number 45, performed horribly by his own standards. This led to a certain Orlando Magic player claiming that this wasn’t the Jordan who had played for the Bulls until 1993. The disrespect led to Jordan incurring a hefty fine.
Michael Jordan paid a $25,000 fine for changing jersey number
After returning to the NBA in March of 1995, Michael Jordan decided to not wear the number 23 and instead donned the number 45. Jordan wanted to retire the number his father had last seen him play in.
However, he would only wear it for 22 days. In his last appearance wearing the number, Michael shot just 8 of his 22 attempts against the Orlando Magic in the second round of playoffs.
After the game, Magic player Nick Anderson haughtily proclaimed ‘Number 45 is not number 23.’ After this comment by Anderson, Jordan refused to speak to the press and even unretired his number 23 without proper protocol. The NBA fined him $25,000 for doing so. Roland Lazenby detailed the instance in his book. He wrote:
“Jordan refused to speak with the press afterward. He showed up for the next game wearing his old 23, an unannounced jersey change that drew the Bulls a $25,000 fine from the league. The NBA also enforced its policy that required Jordan to begin addressing the media again.”
(1995) Throwback to when Jordan switched back to 23. During Game 1 of the ECFS Nick Anderson stole the ball late to seal the game. After, Nick told the media that “Number 45 is not number 23”.
So after only 22 games with 45, MJ went back to 23, costing the Bulls 100,000 in fines pic.twitter.com/qQ6HcS9tPl— Old-Time Buckets (@oldtimebuckets) March 20, 2020
The next game marked the return of MJ’s dominance
After his horrible showing in game 1, MJ not only unretired his jersey but likely made up his mind to show Anderson the real Jordan. From Game 2, he was officially backed and had some memorable scoring performances.
He had 3 games with 38+ points in the series and averaged an impressive 31 points. Unfortunately, the Bulls lost the series 4-2 to the Orlando Magic. Shaquille O’Neal’s side proved better than the Bulls and went on to reach the NBA Finals that season only to lose to Houston Rockets.
