Today’s NBA players are so set on winning a championship, they often bounce around the league hoping to become the missing member of a superstar-stacked superteam. LeBron James did that with the Miami Heat, and Kevin Durant did the same with the Golden State Warriors. Eventually, though, those two left their franchises in search of the elusive win.
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Charles Barkley praised Michael Jordan for not doing the same with his career. The Bulls legend notoriously struggled to win anything throughout his first few years in the NBA, but he remained dedicated to improving himself rather than continually looking for greener pastures.
Unlike many superstars in today’s league, Jordan stuck one team, spending his first 13 seasons with the Bulls. Eventually, MJ overcame his playoff obstacles as his opponents aged and teammate Scottie Pippen rose to stardom. If he hadn’t been patient with the Bulls and dedicated to his own craft, Jordan may have never found the success that he did in the NBA.
“One of the reasons we always think about Michael [Jordan] being the greatest is, you know, he didn’t join a superteam,” Barkley told Sports Illustrated‘s Jimmy Traina. “He took his a** whooping like a man and got better. He got bigger, he got stronger, and he just got better as a player.”
Barkley shared that he’d always hold MJ in high regard for not creating his own superteam. “He didn’t say, ‘Man, we can’t beat the Pistons, we can’t beat the Celtics, let me join somebody else,” Chuck explained. “Go back and look at Michael’s body from when he first started losing to when he finally won a championship, it’s like night and day.”
Jordan toughed it out with the Bulls and was rewarded for his efforts with six hard-fought championship banners. However, there was once a real possibility that the five-time MVP wouldn’t hit his prime in Chicago.
Michael Jordan was nearly traded early in his career
Michael Jordan is easily the greatest Chicago Bull in the franchise’s impressive history. But that almost wasn’t the case, as the team seriously considered trading the face of their franchise in 1988.
The Los Angeles Clippers put together an intriguing package for the rising superstar, offering both the No. 1 and No. 6 selections in that year’s draft along with three additional players of the Bulls’ choosing. Of course, Chicago ultimately declined the deal, but the haul LA offered certainly made the team think for a second.
Those picks would go on to become Danny Manning and Hersey Hawkins, although the latter was later traded by LA on draft night. Both Manning and Hawkins were solid in the pros, with both making at least one All-Star appearance in their careers. But neither came close to the greatness of Jordan, who easily could have been a “what if” legend with the Clippers.
