Michael Jordan’s sudden retirement from the NBA to pursue a baseball career was shocking. But what eclipsed that was his iconic return just a year later, when he sent out a fax message with just two words: “I’m back”. For those at the Chicago Bulls who were not around the first time Jordan three-peated, it was a surreal moment seeing him back in the uniform. Jud Buechler was one of them.
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MJ took the NBA by storm in the late 1980s and early 1990s, winning three back-to-back NBA championships between 1991 and 1993. Many around the league watched on in envy during that period. A select few, including some newcomers, were part of the Bulls squad when he made his iconic return, about which Buechler spoke to Stacey King — a member of the first three-peat squad — on his recent podcast.
Buechler highlighted how the likes of King, Scottie Pippen, and MJ ‘laid the foundation’ and made the Bulls a great team before His Airness left to pursue baseball. Yes, the Bulls struggled in his absence, but that only made the fire burn stronger when he finally suited up for Chicago again.
“There was this awe, this incredible presence. We thought about the Bulls and the championships and Phil [Jackson], and Michael, and Scottie, and you Stay,” Buechler, who joined the Bulls in 1994, stated. “When I got there, Michael was playing baseball, and he came back, I think, when we had 17 games left, and it was a shock…”
Buechler remembers himself and the others who hadn’t shared a locker room with Jordan before being awestruck. It took them some time to come to terms with the fact that they were going to be rubbing shoulders with the man, who by then was already regarded as a mythical figure in the world of basketball. Head Coach Phil Jackson, however, had to drag the entire roster down to reality.
“All of us were just in awe. It took a lot of time, and Phil even talked to some of us about it. Like, you need to stop watching him and start playing with him. We were just all in awe of his presence and everything… It was just magical.”
For Jordan and the Bulls, it wasn’t a fairytale reunion. He was still adjusting to the physical demands of being in the NBA after spending several months adjusting to life as a baseball player. The Bulls looked fractured and lost to the Orlando Magic in six games in the Semi-Finals. But that didn’t deter them, as it laid the foundations for the second three-peat of MJ’s career, and this time, Buechler was a part of it.
Some were awestruck, others were confused
Maybe on some level, most players felt MJ would be back in the NBA. But that’s us speculating in hindsight. When he did part ways with the Bulls, not many would have predicted him turning up at the training courts just a year later. Kerr, currently Head Coach of the Golden State Warriors, was confused.
“It was incredible, it was surreal really,” Kerr said in an interview with Tom Tolbert. “So, he came back with 17 games left in the season. It was like out of nowhere. He just shows up to practice and scrimmages with us one day, and everyone’s like, ‘what the hell is going on here?’”
Like Buechler, Kerr took some time to sink Jordan’s return in. But when he did, he turned out to be one of the more crucial role players contributing to those three title wins between 1996 and 1998. As Buechler admitted to King, the loss to the Magic “lit a fire” under him. MJ retired with six NBA championships in total, and he was the MVP in all six of those Finals. Truly, a marvel to share the court with.
